Abuse
by BMIK
Summary: Kadaj should do a special homework, but it seems to be much more than just an essay...AU, turks, SHM, rated M for later chapters Sephiroth/Yazoo
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and I do not make any money from this.**

**Many many thanks to xRiikox for the big help she provided by betaing and editing these chapters! **

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**Abuse**

[1]

Miss Elena collected herself, drawing in a deep breath and straightening her jacket. Then she opened the green door. The day had started to actually become a nice one: the sun was shining brightly through the halls and outside the birds were chirping their happy little songs, but the moment she entered the classroom she had the unpleasant feeling that it would end horribly.

For now everything seemed to be normal though. She was greeted by the usual madness and noises her third class pupils produced with their extremely voluminous organs. Laughter, giggling, talking and the sound of papers unfolding engulfed the room and it seemed that children at this particular age were either collectively deaf, or just enjoyed it to torture their poor teacher with random, ear-piercing screaming.

Since they were all busy being loud no one acknowledged her presence and continued being nerve-racking.

Just now the most bratty one, a boy of nine years with silver hair who listened -or rather not- to the name Kadaj, screamed at some older and bigger brat, also known as 'Denzel', and jumped up and down in annoyance, trying to catch some sheets of papers the bigger held smirking above his head.

Elena sighed, withstood the urge to rub her temple and tried her best to ignore the upcoming headache.

She decided that it was high time for her to interrupt this farce and start with her lectures by shutting the door roughly with a bang and ripping the papers out of Denzel's hand, which just happened to be next to her.

The classroom became silent in an instant, every of her twenty-one students frozen in their actions and then quickly taking their seats.

"Good morning all together."

Ignoring the muffled response the teacher sternly looked down at the two boys in front of her.

"Now what is going on here?"

The brown haired boy stared at the ground, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and looking very uncomfortable now.

Kadaj looked up at her stubbornly, arms folded over his chest and explained angrily. "This assho-… Denzel has taken my homework and won't give it back to me!"

Elena arched an eyebrow.

Kadaj, doing homework? Maybe this was why she had felt somewhat awkward earlier before, because the kid was one of her main problems. He wasn't stupid, really, but even at his young age he seemed to have some serious issues with authority and caused her one or another migraine.

He was just... strange.

Apart from his unusual appearance, namely silver hair and green cat like eyes, he behaved rather abnormal. As far as she knew he had no friends and his classmates avoided him if he was lucky.

Sometimes they teased him, but mostly they simply ignored him. It had never been bad enough that she had to send for his parents, no real problems. Probably it was out of sympathy that she worried for him. But maybe he was just at a difficult age and a bit hyperactive…

With another sigh, Elena waved her hand in dismissal, releasing the two to sit down and turned to walk to her own desk. Denzel sat down as quickly as he could and looked rather relieved, but Kadaj still stood next to his desk, now with slitted pupils which always indicated that he was upset.

"Can I get my papers back now?" he demanded to know in a provokingly bold manner.

Elena looked back at him in surprise since he normally behaved rather politely towards her, his antisocial behaviour only showing exclusively to his classmates.

"Well, I thought since you actually made it, it should be honoured and shared with the class, don't you think so?" she asked softly and smiled at him. Obviously he didn't think so since he shook his head rather violently.

"No! I don't want them to hear it. I hate them." He glared daggers at the others who had turned their little heads to face him, curiously following the interesting conversation and glaring back at the boy with no less loathing.

Elena frowned and carefully laid the sheets on her desk.

"Kadaj, it won't be that bad. No one will laugh at you; it would help your grades and I guess everyone wants to hear it, mh?" she tried to assure him. The class nodded in collective, not because they wanted to hear his essay but more so to upset the boy and show him where his place was. Outside their group.

"See? Now sit down please," the teacher ordered still friendly and watched Kadaj as he bit his lips and stared at the ground, but finally giving in and sitting down.

Behind him someone giggled but he just tried to ignore it. Stupid assholes!

"Well then, let's start. Your homework for today was to write an essay about 'The person I love most.' We will begin with Kadaj´s homework, so please make notes and take attention." She made a brief pause and looked at the youth again.

"You want to read it yourself?"

He shook his head again and pouted, gracing her with an unhappy scowl.

"Fine, I will read it then."

The blond haired teacher walked around her desk, leaned in front of it and started to read out loud.

"'_The person I love most_' by Kadaj."

To tell the truth she was quite curious about which person her student had picked since she didn't know much about him apart from the fact that he had two older brothers, who visited the same school and some general facts. He had become one of her students just two months ago and since then she hadn't even met his parents...

"´_The person I love most is my brother Yazoo. That's because he's the nicest out of my two brothers. I have another one, Loz, but he's a stupid, big oaf and a crybaby.´_" Elena shot a look at Kadaj, who just shrugged as if to say ´But he is...´ and continued reading.

"_´He always acts like the big brother, tries to commandeer me around to do his work for him and calls me a brat, but in fact he is. Of course I refuse to work for him, he's just so dumb and doesn't have a clue about anything! Normally I'm yelling at him and then he ends up crying in some corner like a baby. Pretty pathetic._

_Whatever._

_My other brother Yazoo is the second oldest and he's really nice. He's always on my side and I suppose he also thinks that Loz is stupid. Yazzy –I'm the only one who's allowed to call him so- has long hair which is really cool and I let mine grow too. He's the only one I can talk to and who actually understands me. When we were younger he always played with me and took me to the park. We spend very much time together and I told him about everything. He even let me sleep in his bed when I had nightmares-´_"

Giggles could be heard, that died very quickly after a dead glare from Elena around the classroom.

"_´- and he always made me feel better. I think he's been very strong and stuff, I was never afraid any longer when I was with him._

_But since we are with father he has changed._

_He doesn't talk much now._

_And I´m not allowed to sleep in his room anymore because father forbid it, but Yazoo has to sleep in father's bed now anyways._

_I hate father._

_Actually he isn't our real father, he adopted us. I don't know why. We have to call him 'sir' all the time. He's the person I hate most. Because he hurts Yazzy.´_"

Elena's mouth became very dry all of a sudden and there was this strange feeling again. Hiding the shaking of her hands and laying the papers aside she looked up at the class again.

This was nothing they should hear. This was nothing ANYONE should be forced to listen to! But it seemed that they didn't even understand what was going on. They just watched their teacher in slight confusion, wondering why she had stopped reading.

God, they were all so innocent! Well, all except one...

Kadaj was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, chin raised and staring at her defensively, just as if he had done something wrong and expected to be punished.

In his eyes Elena thought she could make out a somewhat helpless and...hurt expression.

Pushing herself away from the desk she cleared her throat and explained in a soft voice:

"Well, Kadaj, I think this was enough from your homework for now. It was very good, really."

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw how his eyes widened a fraction in disbelief and continued as if she hadn't noticed. "But since we only have thirty minutes left I will take it home with me and read the rest there."

With that she threw her attention to the rest of the class and ordered. "Please take out your books, open page 45 and work on questions five to seven. In silence."

Grunting and murmuring the children opened their books and stuck their little noses into them, whispering here and there. After a second even the silver haired boy followed her instruction and Elena sat down, the homework vanishing into her bag.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

**Again I´m very grateful to xRiikox for the awesome beta-job!**

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[2]

"´_I know that he´s doing terrible things to my brother, although he´s always nice to him. Father is not nice to Loz and me, but that's maybe because we are not his ´good boys´. _

_Father calls Yazzy his ´good boy´ or ´sweet little kitten´ all the time. He never gets angry with him and he even allows Yazoo to eat with him. Father buys my brother presents and new clothes all the time, because he must look good. I´m a bit worried because every time he comes up with something new Yazzy behaves so odd. _

_I don't think he wants this shit or to be a 'good boy'. But he doesn't want to tell me what happens. _

_When I ask him, he's always smiling and tells me that I worry too much and that he is ok, but I know he's lying. I know because he sometimes just sits on the bed for hours._

_He doesn't do anything, just staring. He doesn't want to be touched anymore and most of the time he's hiding in his room. I once asked Loz if he knew something, but he just gave me that stupid look of his and murmured that I´d be too young to understand anyway. _

_As if he would! _

_I hate Loz! I hate father! But I promise that I´ll keep on training and one day I´ll kill him for what ever he does to my brother!´"_

The last sentences had been written so roughly that she could hardly decipher them. The kid must have been in a very upset mood; the pencil had nearly cut through the paper.

No wonder, really.

Elena dropped the papers and swallowed the bitter liquid that had filled her mouth. At the moment she was sitting in her classroom, alone. All the pupils had left, including the author of the essay, going to the cafeteria to eat their lunch.

She could have gone with her colleagues, but she hadn't felt hungry at all. After reading this she even felt sick.

In front of her class she had managed to keep her worries and the shock to herself, away from the children. Now that she had no one to observe her Elena buried her head in her hands, trying to understand what she had accidentally stumbled in on here.

Obviously Kadaj had no idea what exactly he was talking about and she thanked god for that! But as she always had suspected he was clever, and even if he didn't understand what was going on in detail he knew it was something bad.

It was out of question that she had to do something about this, but right now Elena didn´t even know _what_ to do.

Before he had left the class with the others Kadaj had come to her, asking her to not tell his father about what he had written. His face was so worried, so _afraid_, that she hadn't had a choice but to promise that she wouldn't tell anyone if he didn't want her to do so. He had left in relief, as if an incredibly heavy burden had been put away from his shoulders.

This didn't make it easier.

If she wanted to help him she needed the boy´s trust and yet she had no proof for her suspicion. It was unwise to confront the father of the brothers with this homework since he would, of course, deny all accusations and she had nothing in her hands, no evidence at all.

All she could do at the moment was hold her eyes open and gather information.

Although it was obvious to her: Yazoo was being abused by his father.


	3. Chapter 3

**Many kudos to xRiikox for the awesome betaing!**

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[3]

With legs that were still weak, Miss Elena walked slowly into the teacher's room and poured herself a glass of water at the sink. Holding it tightly to her chest she went over to the window and let her confused gaze wander over the courtyard.

Everything seemed so peaceful...

The students were standing around in little groups or sat on the grass talking, laughing, copying homework and eating their lunch. The sun was still shining; it was nearly summer vacation and the girls had rolled up their uniform sleeves and knotted the ends of their shirts together above their bellies to let their still pale skin become brown or to impress their secret loves and boyfriends.

Everything seemed so normal...

But it wasn't for at least three of them, and it seriously gave her the creeps.

Shuddering she turned around to nearly crash into one of the other teachers, spilling some water onto his jacket in the process.

"Oh, I´m sorry!" she stuttered and mechanically took a step back.

"No problem. That's okay, just water." Tseng smiled at her reassuringly, but it faded when he noticed what a bad condition Elena was in. Letting herself fall onto the nearest chair she put the glass on the table and rubbed her temple.

"Are you alright?"

Tseng came over to her and crouched beside the other teacher with a worried expression. She first wanted to tell him that she was alright, but then shrugged instead.

Because no, she wasn't okay. Not a bit.

"I... don't know... Just a headache, I think..."

He patiently waited for her to continue when an idea hit her. "Tseng, you're the liaison teacher this year, aren't you?"

The man nodded in slight astonishment, not knowing why she was asking and what this had to do with her obvious migraine.

Without any further explanation she pulled some papers out of her bag, holding them towards him.

The teacher wanted to take them, but before she let him Elena leaned over, whispering in a serious tone. "This has to be kept between us, okay?"

After he gave his consent with a short nod Elena let go, and Tseng sat on the free chair next to her, taking care that no-one else of the few other teachers that were in the lounge was looking at the contents. Everyone was busy with something so there was no reason to worry about any possible intruder and the man started reading.

Frowning he went through the text, his face darkening the further he got. When he was finished Tseng let the paper sink down onto the table and looked back at his fellow teacher with an unreadable face.

"This is..." He paused and let his gaze drift off, lacking for words.

Elena took a sip of her water, nodding slowly. "I know. It's serious."

Tseng looked back at her and affirmed quietly. "It's deadly serious. You know we cannot ignore this. It is our duty to take action."

Elena wrapped her arms around her slim waist, feeling utterly helpless. "But I don't know what to do! I promised the boy to not tell his father, and I won't break a promise! I think I'm the only one he trusts, otherwise he wouldn't have written this in his homework. I think he wanted me to know. And to help."

Tseng was quiet for a while, thinking, then looked down at the paper again. "Alright, let's see what we have: Yazoo is one of my students, I teach him maths. He seems to be a rather mature and sensible person to me, although he isn't at school very often."

"I didn't know you have him," Elena interrupted, surprised. "I thought you were only teaching the higher-"

"I do. He skipped two years and is in class with his older brother now, who lost a year. However, I think it is best if we talk to him. Maybe we can get him to tell us. This would be the best way; without his confession we can't do anything. Maybe he can clear things up. We just need to be very careful and sensitive, as this is a difficult topic. And I think it's best if for now it's just the two of us who know about it until we are certain about what is really going on."

Elena nodded, relieved that the other knew what to do and had taken the subject out of her hands.

"When will we talk to him?"

"It is best after school, I think. I will see if he is here today and ask him to visit us after classes in room 129."

"I will be there," the blonde promised, drinking the rest of her water and preparing herself for her next lesson.

tbc


	4. Chapter 4

**Big thanks to xRiikox for the proof-reading!**

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[4]

Elena nervously twirled a short strand of blond hair around her finger, waiting for Tseng and the boy to come. The rest of her lessons had seemed to stretch like the gum her students were constantly chewing.

If she was honest she felt very uncertain and a bit sick again. This wasn't going to be easy. She wasn't familiar with this kind of problem! Sure, she had had a brief lection on child abuse when she had studied, but this was YEARS ago.

And it had only been in theory.

She stiffened when the door opened and Tseng walked into the empty classroom.

Alone.

She raised an eyebrow in question, hiding her nervousness as best as she could.

"He will come in a minute. I had a rather hard time convincing Loz that he let him come, but he and Kadaj will wait outside. It seems that all three of them are very close and attached to each other."

Tseng sat down next to her on one of the small chairs, then stood up again and grabbed another one for the youth, placing it in front of their own seats.

"What did you tell Yazoo about why we want to see him?"

"Nothing in particular. I only needed to tell him that there was a problem with Kadaj and he didn't need another reason to agree to meeting us. So if he comes in just try to be relaxed, alright? I'll do the talking since he knows me." He shot her an understanding look which she answered with a thankful one.

Their conversation was ended when the door opened again, and their guest entered.

Elena could not say what she had expected. Maybe she had thought of an older copy of Kadaj.

Well, he wasn't exactly. Although one could tell from the first sight that they were siblings, sharing the same unusual silver hair and cat like eyes, their behaviour and attitude couldn't have been more different. The loud, noisy, chaotic little person Kadaj was, the quiet, collected and calm composure his older brother carried with him. He was taller, of a slender figure and almost somewhat…elegant.

Yazoo was beautiful, and there was no other word to describe him.

Huge eyes, glowing in a deep green, were framed by long, black lashes. Marble-like, pale skin. He had rather feminine features which fit his general appearance, the slim figure and the long, shining hair very well.

No doubt that he was the nonplus ultra; the perfect victim for any perverted paedophilic bastard.

His rather deep voice surprised her a bit when he greeted them, and Tseng answered while making an inviting gesture towards the empty chair in front of them.

"Hello Yazoo. I'm glad you had time to come. This is Miss Elena, Kadaj´s teacher. I don't think you've met each other before?"

"No, I haven't had the pleasure yet. Nice to meet you," Yazoo answered politely, sitting down and mustering her briefly. Elena nodded in response.

"So what is it with Kadaj? Does he have any problems with his grades?" The boy tilted his head to the side in question. There was a worried look in his eyes Elena would compare to those of concerned parents. The thing was: he wasn't a parent. And he had much more to worry about himself, hadn't he?

Admittedly it confused the young teacher that he didn't seem to be nervous or broken at all. If she thought about it now she had imagined him to be more like a wreck and less...calm and confident.

"No." She shook her head in denial and straightened a little. "His grades are okay, not the best, but he will be able to move up to next class without much problems."

"Actually, we want to talk about a more personal topic," Tseng continued. Yazoo's face remained calm and there was no hint that he may have felt uneasy.

"Kadaj was assigned a special homework to do for today and it turned out to be a bit... worrying."

The teacher´s voice had become softer and he leaned forward to get the homework out of his bag.

"If you don't mind I want you to read it and if you feel like it you can tell me what you think about it, alright?"

He handed the notes to the boy, who took them with an unreadable expression.

"Miss Elena and I will leave you here to give you some privacy, but please don't mind talking to us."

With this Tseng and the woman stood up in unison and went to the other side of the room, pretending to be busy with looking out of the window. But they both watched the reflection of the youth, who observed them for a brief moment, then looked down at the pages and started reading. Tseng gave her a meaningful look and they continued 'stalking' Yazoo, trying to find a sign that assured them that their suspicions were founded.

But there was just...nothing.

No shock, no hurt. No harsh breathing, no sweat, no shaking, no tears. Neither anger nor sorrow, or any emotion that would have given him away.

Yazoo´s face remained impassive. Far too grown up for someone his age. He couldn't be older than fourteen. In Elena's opinion he was by far too calm and collected. Maybe this said more about him than anything else...

After two minutes, and what seemed like an eternity to both of the teachers, he dropped the papers and looked back at them. Tseng turned around, went back to their chairs -followed by his comrade- and sat down in front of the boy. He cleared his throat and asked softly, but still seriously:

"So what do you think?"

Yazoo watched the worried two faces for a moment, his own remaining expressionless until a small smile appeared around his lips.

"I think it is wonderful."

Elena's jaw dropped at least to the cellar.

"I know how it must have been looking to you when you read this. I am glad you showed me so I can clear some things up." He tilted his head in question again and Tseng motioned for him to continue, frowning. Yazoo slowly folded the paper, looking thoughtful for a moment and then starting to give his explanation.

"You see, since we live with our foster father some things have changed indeed. Kadaj has problems to cope with them, with our new life. It is not easy for him to accept someone new in our family, since it always just had been Loz, him and I.

I suppose he is a bit jealous, because it is not only him who is at a difficult age. He doesn't understand that I need time for myself now, that I have to think about certain things and figure them out. So he blames father for it. It is true that I got accustomed to our new situation best, but it is not easy for father either. He is trying his best, I can assure you. But you know, Kadaj can be very rejecting and difficult at times. I just hope they get along soon."

He sighed and made a short pause, looking slightly troubled but then continued.

"As for the fact why I sleep in my father's room; you've surely wondered, but I have to say that it is absolutely necessary. It is no secret that I am absent from school sometimes. This is because I am ill. I won't specify what it is, since this is very personal, but I get attacks which have to be treated with medication immediately. Someone competent has to be around me at certain times and the only person who is able to help me then is my father. We're just trying to make our best out of it.

Maybe that's another reason why mostly I get the attention of our father. I have to. We did not tell Kadaj about my illness, because I thought he would worry too much, but now I consider it to be a wrong decision. I will remedy this mistake.

I am sorry to have caused you so much trouble, but we will handle this by ourselves now and there really is no need to worry. Since I know now how my little brother is feeling I will try and help him cope with the circumstances as well as I can.

So thank you for your trust, and for showing me this first instead of calling our father. It would have complicated many things and since it would only have hurt him I think there is no need to tell him about this misunderstanding now."

He gave them a questioning smile; 'The smile of a criminal asking if his alibi is solid enough',Elena thought, but wiped that thought away as the boy was answered with a brief nod from Tseng.

"Well then, if this was all you wanted to show me..." Yazoo stood up, looking kind of apologetic.

"That was all, thank you." Tseng replied.

"As I said, I have to thank you. Have a nice day."

With that said he turned around and walked to the door. As he was just about to reach it Elena snapped out of her totally confused and flustered condition, calling after him. "Wait a moment! You still have the piece of homework! "

Yazoo stopped, rolling his head over his shoulder to look at her, still smiling. "I think we cleared everything up, so you won't need it any longer. I'd like to keep it if you don't mind."

"It´s alright, you can take it." Tseng nodded again and Yazoo went out of the classroom.

"That was... strange" Elena shook her head to clear, pulling one leg over the other and still facing the door Yazoo had gone through just a few seconds earlier.

"Yes," Tseng admitted.

"I mean... He wasn't the slightest bit surprised or so... "

"I guess although he pretended to not know anything he briefed himself. Kadaj seemed to be nervous."

There was silence for a moment until Elena spoke up again. "Did you know about his illness?"

Tseng shook his head.

"Don't you think that's a bit strange? I mean… If he really is _that_ ill you would_ have _to know. What if he gets one of those attacks at school? No one would be able to help him then…"

The dark haired man nodded absently, still deep in thought.

"Tseng?" Elena touched his shoulder to get his attention and the man finally snapped out of his reverie.

"I´m sorry. Yes, I should know. I will study his record again, maybe I just overlooked it." He gave her a reassuring squeeze, but she could see the confusion hidden in his dark eyes.

"You think that he's not telling the truth…"

Tseng broke eye contact and let his gaze drift back to the floor. "I don't know. But to be honest…Yes, I still think there is something wrong about the whole story."

"Mh. He behaved far too collected. I don't know how to describe it. Just… Not like someone his age should behave when confronted with such a thing. It seemed to be too… constructed. Too well thought out."

A small smile crept over Tseng´s lips, which caused her to raise an eyebrow.

"This has nothing to say. That's just Yazoo. Always controlled, quiet and rational. He knows what he´s doing, even at that age. But that also means that we won't get anything out of him."

The smile vanished and the teacher was serious again. "And right know we have no evidence that he might be lying or hiding something. Until we don't have anything else beside Kadaj´s homework, which I copied, don´t worry, we are not authorized to do anything."

Elena stared at him in disbelief. "Are you going to tell me that we have to sit here and wait until something _really_ bad happens?"

Sighing, Tseng shrugged. "I fear so. Either that or he tells us."

Upset, the blonde woman sprang to her feet and paced the room. "I can't believe this! There is something we have to do, something we can do! I mean we both know something's fishy about the whole thing!"

"No." His voice was calm, but filled with authority as he interrupted her. "We don't know anything. We _suspect._ This is far too little."

"But-" Elena stopped in her tracks, a stubborn expression on her face which reminded Tseng of some of his pupils.

"Elena, listen. I understand your concerns, I even share them. But there is still the chance that it really was a misunderstanding. Then what? Do you want to be responsible for the consequences? Maybe we'll be destroying a family." He paused for a moment and then added quietly "And we are risking our jobs if it turns out to be nothing but an unreasonable suspicion."

"If we are right it's worth it!" Elena hissed. "What's more important to you? Your job or that you might help these boys to get back a normal life?"

Tseng shifted uncomfortably on his chair, but eventually shook his head. "We are not authorized. We don't know anything. I love my job. And if I'm fired I can help him even less."

Elena stared at the teacher in disbelief; then her eyes went cold and disgusted.

"_You_ above _all _should risk something, do something and help. I wouldn't have ever thought you were that selfish!"

She reached for her bag and turned her back on him to leave the classroom.

Before she reached the door though, strong fingers held her arm firmly, and turned her around again so she was forced to look Tseng in the eye. They were sad and frustrated but when he spoke his voice was low, controlled and authoritarian. "It seems that I cannot convince you to think better of me. I'm sorry, really. And I'm afraid you won't think better of me now, but I forbid you to go any further. Officially this problem is solved. No actions on your own. That's an order."

Anger burning in her eyes she scowled. Not bothering to answer Elena freed herself and rushed out of the room.

tbc


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to xRiikox for the awesome betaing, you so rock!**

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[5]

Catching her breath, Elena stopped a few meters outside the school area. She had almost been running, trying to escape the building as fast as she could while hot tears burned in the corners of her eyes. Biting her lip she held her aching side and tried to gather herself. Actually she had expected Tseng to follow her, to tell her that she was right and that he had changed his mind.

Or even…She didn't know.

Maybe make the helpless feeling go away.

His words only had assured her that her suspicions were right, that she had to _do_ something. On the other hand, when she thought about it in a rational way, Elena had to admit that Tseng was right, too. Apart from her instinct they had no proof… Maybe she had been a bit unfair.

Closing her eyes she led out a deep sigh.

The sun was still burning warmly into her face although it was already afternoon. The school building was empty now, the lack of giggling, pubescent pupils suddenly sinking in.

Sighing again the blonde opened her eyes and slowly started to walk down the avenue towards the bus station. Being still distracted by her thoughts she almost didn't see the three boys standing at the station. Only when she heard the heart-wrenching sobs Elena snapped out of it and recognized the three silver haired students.

And something was going on.

Quickly she hid behind a tree and observed them, wondering what they were up to. The owner of the sobs was Kadaj, who stood with his back to her, his head lowered and shoulders shaking slightly.

The second boy, a bulky young man with short silver hair and an uneasy expression, stood next to him, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Although he was the tallest and obviously the oldest he appeared to somewhat be the youngest, his gestures unsure and kind of childish.

A single tear rolled down his cheek, which he suddenly wiped away as if he feared someone could notice. Elena figured that this had to be Loz, the cry-baby.

In front of them stood Yazoo. His attention was focused on his youngest brother, but now he wasn´t smiling anymore. Instead he stared down at Kadaj very coldly, but also hurt. In his left hand he held some papers, which had to be Kadaj´s homework.

"I am very disappointed. I thought we were brothers. But I must have been wrong, because brothers don't betray each other. What you did today showed me that I cannot trust you."

Another sob could be heard, followed by a shaking voice. "But, I wanted to help-"

"Help? You only made it worse." Yazoo's voice was filled with frustration he could barely hide. He still watched his little brother with eyes that could have frozen hell over and caused some more whimpers.

"You hate me now, don't you?" Kadaj whispered fearfully and managed to look up.

The other boy´s face remained distant. Then he slowly took something out of his pocket and held it, together with the homework, in Kadaj´s direction.

After some seconds the boy finally took the proffered items with shaking hands and held them stiffly in his little fingers.

Suddenly Yazoo's eyes softened and he crouched down to be at eye level with his brother.

"No Kadaj. I don't hate you. I never will. I've just been…upset."

Elena noticed how Kadaj´s tensed shoulders relaxed.

"I know you only meant to help me," the middle brother continued, stroking some hair out of Kadaj´s face. "But you can't. No one can. I don't want help because I don't need help. Whatever you think is going on is only my business and yours. No-one else's. Promise me that you won't do anything like this again, alright? Or do you want me to get into trouble?"

Instantly Kadaj shook his head. "I… I promise you. I really didn't want you to be angry."

"Good." A warm smile appeared on Yazoo's lips. "Then prove it."

The younger one held the papers next to the other item, Elena noticed now was a lighter. He turned around to a nearby trashcan and held the flickering flame steady onto his homework. The paper was on fire very soon and he let it fall down into the dark recesses of the bin.

Silently the three brothers watched the flames, Loz having a sheepish look on his face, Kadaj being tense and biting his lips, and Yazoo rising up and remaining expressionless.

Eventually the scene was ended by the coming bus.

Sighing in relief Loz was the first to notice. "Bus is coming."

A mischievous gleam appeared in his eyes and he boxed his youngest brother into the side, ordering haughtily "Get up brat. My bags want to be carried."

"Your brain wants to be used too. But it's not happening either," came the sweet reply and before the bigger one could answer Kadaj had already vanished inside the bus, holding his head out of the window with a wide grin and sticking his tongue out at his oldest sibling.

Growling Loz grabbed his school bag himself and followed, glaring daggers at Kadaj.

"You know, ya could have been sulking a little longer… Would have shown the brat some manners…" He stated into Yazoo's direction, who just smirked.

"Don't cry Loz. We can't punish him for stating facts, can we?"

"Eh, well… No?" Quite confused Loz scratched his head.

"Don't bother…" the other murmured and followed the eldest into the bus.

After the vehicle had passed by Elena came out from her hiding place and watched the bus drive out of sight. Taking a side glance into the trashcan and its burnt inside she decided to walk home.

tbc


	6. Chapter 6

**Again I am very grateful to xRiikox for the terrific betaing!**

* * *

[6]

The next day, Elena sat down on a bench in the schoolyard, sipping at her hot coffee and lazily watching the students who left the building. It was break time, and the children gathered in groups to eat their lunches and enjoy the warm sun.

A glimpse of silver caught her attention, and she observed Yazoo and Loz, who walked down the stairs with some other students. Kadaj was nowhere in sight. As they reached the end of the stairs the group stopped and seemed to discuss something, maybe where they should have their lunch.

Finally they went to the left, heading for the park and only Yazoo went to the right, waving a short good-bye. While Loz and the others left he slowly walked towards a free bench in his own graceful manner and sat down in a quiet corner, away from the trouble and other students. Opening his schoolbag, he put out an old and expensive looking book, whose title Elena could not read, and started somewhere in the middle of it.

Crossing one leg over the other, the blonde teacher took another sip and continued to observe him, although there was certainly not much action. He seemed to be totally occupied by his book, and there was absolutely no sign which indicated that something was wrong with him. Quite the contrary; he looked relaxed and absently pushed some long silver strands out of his pretty face.

Elena sighed and let her gaze wander over the schoolyard. Everything was just so normal…

Looking back at the boy she noticed someone approaching him from behind. This someone had fiery red hair, his hands casually put into his pockets and a mischievous grin on his face. Although she didn't teach him Elena knew very well who this was. Everyone here knew about Reno, since he was the school rowdy, spending more time in the principal´s office than in class. Normally he would have been suspended from school by now, but Elena had heard something about him being a problem child with a very twisted past. Everything she knew about him was that he was an orphan and lived in the school dormitory now. Apparently the principal thought there was a real chance to re-socialize or tame him.

But right now Reno seemed to have other plans than being a nice guy and following the script. Carefully, as to stay unnoticed, he leaned over Yazoo's shoulder and with a quick movement snatched the book out of his victim's hands.

"What-" Caught by surprise the silver haired boy flinched and turned his head around to stare into Reno's wide grin.

"Yo, what do we have here, eh?" Smirking, Reno slowly walked around the bench, the book still in hands.

He took a short look at the title and spat on the ground. "´Faust´ eh? And here they say I´m a freak… bat shit insane, are ya? To read this stuff voluntarily."

"Now, since we've figured that out I would appreciate it if you could give it back to me," Yazoo stated calmly, carefully observing every movement his opponent made.

Reno's smirk grew wider.

"Of course. My apologies for interrupting your important studies," he answered sweetly and held the book back into Yazoo's direction, who reached out to get his item back. Before he could grab it though, the redhead suddenly withdrew it and gave him a thoughtful look.

"Now, now. Let me think about that."

Smirking he looked down at his prey, who hesitantly put his hands back into his lap.

"This shit means something to ya, eh? You want it back, yo? "

Yazoo tilted his head to the side, and watched the boy through his bangs, then gave a short nod.

"Thought so."

Still smirking, Reno took a step back and casually leaned on a tree next to the bench.

"Now since we figured _that _out, I'm extremely curious to know how much it really means to you."

"What do you want?"

"What do you offer?"

Yazoo pressed his lips together, obviously not enjoying this conversation.

"I don't know… "

"Aw, come on." Reno crossed his arms over his chest, his grin vanishing. "I know you're a rich man´s kid. I'm sure there´s a lot you have to give."

"I don't have any money, if that is what you are aiming for…" Before Yazoo could finish his sentence Reno rushed forward, grabbing him by the collar and hissing dangerously.

"Listen brat, I don't like to be fucked. Don't make me get angry, understand?"

Yazoo's eyes widened a bit, and he nodded.

"Good."

A satisfied smile found its way back on Reno's lips, and he loosened his grip a bit. "I'm sure someone as smart as you can convince daddy to get some little extra pocket money…"

Elena decided that she had seen enough and prepared herself to end this farce, but she never got the chance. Before she could even stand up a big shadow appeared behind the redhead and grabbed his hair to brutally jerk his head back. Barking out a surprised scream, Reno let go of his victim and tried to reach for his new opponent, but only managed to get his arm pinned on his back in a painful angle.

With a grim expression Loz held his classmate without the slightest sign of exhaustion and growled "Give it back to him. Now."

His tone made unmistakably clear that he was _pissed_ and everyone who had at least a bit of a brain would have hurried to follow his order.

Since Reno wasn't dumb he decided, even if very unwillingly, that it was best to just do what was demanded. However, he was _Reno_, and instead of just giving the book back to its owner he dropped it with a triumphant smirk before Yazoo could reach it.

He instantly regretted his rebellion as Loz tightened his grip and the redhead winced from the pain that shot through his unlucky arm. "Fuck you!"

This only led to another painful moan, since Loz´ patience was growing very thin now and he was controlled by pure rage.

"Listen bastard. If I _ever_ see you near one of my brothers again I'll make sure you regret it! And I mean REALLY regret it! Understand?" To underline his statement he nearly broke the poor guy's arm, who hurried to nod his head frantically.

"Didn't hear you," Loz barked and the other hissed a breathless "Yes."

Barely satisfied, the big brother finally let him go and Reno vanished very fast behind the building, still feeling Loz´ burning eyes on his back.

When the redhead was out of sight Loz´s attention fell on his brother, who was about to pick his book up from the ground.

The older brother´s angry expression changed into a worried one and he bent down to help his younger sibling. "Are you ok?"

"I´m fine." Yazoo assured him and straightened up, precious book clutched to his chest.

Loz gave him a sceptical look, then his eyes narrowed and he pulled down Yazoo's collar to reveal a scratch.

"Gods, you're hurt! I swear, I'll kill that bastard, I'll… I'll …" He was on the verge of tears and ready to let his words follow some action, but Yazoo held him back.

"Stop it, stupid."

The long haired boy laughed when he noticed his brother´s dumb expression, which obviously confused Loz even more.

"Loz, I´m fine. It's not even bleeding."

"Hmpf." The big boy crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. "Don't ask me to ever save your skinny ass again."

Yazoo just raised a thin eyebrow "I didn't ask you to help me in the first place."

"Yeah, how could I forget about _that_…You never ask for help." Loz stated bitterly and let his arms fall down to the side.

"Right. Because I don't need it." The answer came softly and was followed by a reassuring smile. Loz led out an exaggerated breath, shook his head, but wasn´t angry any longer. After a second he even smiled back.

"Now let's go back to class." Yazoo turned around and ignored the painful moan coming from his brother, who followed very slowly and with little enthusiasm.

When they passed Elena the boys gave a short nod, which she replied absently, pretending to not have heard or seen anything.

tbc


	7. Chapter 7

**Kudos to xRiikox for proof-reading this!**

* * *

[7]

Elena was about to leave the school yard to go home when she heard someone shout her name and stopped. Only seconds later Tseng was beside her.

"Hey."

"Hey," Elena answered, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Since their fight the day before she hadn't talked to him; she was ashamed by her harsh reaction and didn't know how to apologize.

"Tseng… Because of yesterday…I want to say that I'm sorry, I was a bit unfair and-"

"Don't worry. I wasn't better either." He gave her a little smile and she felt a lot better. Slowly they made their way down the street in silence.

"So… What is it?" Elena finally asked, curious to know why Tseng had come after her.

"I thought about our little discussion and… well, decided it won't be that bad to have an open eye on the brothers."

"I see. And what did your open eye find out?"

Tseng smiled a bit. "Maybe we'd better discuss this with a cup of coffee?"

Elena couldn't help but blush, mentally kicking and reminding herself that this wasn't really an invitation for a date. "Sure. I know a nice little café not far from here."

"Perfect."

They finished the last few meters talking about this and that, avoiding the serious issue until they sat down outside the café. Fortunately they were the only guests, which was a bit surprising since the weather was good and the place should have been full of people, it being situated in a park.

Sipping at his cappuccino, Tseng finally sighed. "Well, now about what I found out…"

Elena set down her own cup and leaned forward to better catch what he was saying.

"It was next to nothing."

Noticing her questioning look Tseng nodded and started to explain "There is nearly no information about them apart from their ages and names. No information about Yazoo's mysterious illness or their earlier circumstances."

"I told you!" Elena couldn't help the triumphant smile. Although these news was nothing to smile about…

Tseng only nodded and continued. "But that´s not all. Since there was no information that indicated that Yazoo is ill I decided to contact his father. There is still the chance that someone made a mistake and forgot to mention it in his data. And even if there was no mistake made, it is our duty to find out why he is missing from school that often. If he is not ill there is no excuse for his staying away from classes and we have to settle this."

"And what did his father say?"

"Nothing."

Stunned, Elena stopped stirring her tea.

"Actually," Tseng continued after a second "there was no information about their father either."

"What?"

"No phone number, no address. Not even a name."

"WHAT!"

Some tea was spilled on the table at her violent reaction. "But that's impossible! That is standard information! Without them, the boys are not even allowed to visit our school!"

"I know. But they weren't there."

The blonde shook her head in disbelief. "That's… I mean, there _must_ be something. Someone had had to enroll and stuff."

"I talked to the principal."

"What did she say?"

"Well, that was the strangest thing. She wanted to know why I needed this information and I told her that there were some problems with Loz´ grades. She seemed to be nervous and assured me she would get in contact with his father if it would be really necessary, but since it wasn't that bad I could not put her under enough pressure to actually talk to him."

"That's strange…"

Tseng nodded again and took another sip.

"So there is no chance for us to get some information that way. And Kadaj refuses to talk to me any longer. I think he's angry because we talked to his brother." Elena sighed in resignation and continued to stir her tea, watching the milk swirls. She didn't feel like drinking it at all, now…

"At the moment I don't see _any_ way to find out more." Tseng added.

They sat there in silence, both busy with their own thoughts, until Elena suddenly looked up. "Maybe there is…"

Tseng watched her quizzically and she told him what she had seen that and the day before. After she had finished Tseng rubbed his chin, still wondering what she wanted to tell him with her story.

"Well, that's interesting, but I still have no idea how that shall help us. Enlighten me."

"I think they are very close."

"But we already knew that." Tseng stated dryly.

"Mh. What do we know about Loz?"

The dark haired teacher frowned at the sudden change of subject but answered her question nonetheless.

"Loz? Well, I would say he is a bit… slow. Usually a nice guy, rather popular and apart from his grades he has no problems with anyone. That is, until you provoke him. He's very protective towards his younger brothers as you could see today. Carefully said he is a little soft headed… I guess he has only come this far in classes because of his impressive sports grades. He's the captain of the football team and has good chances at getting a scholarship at a sports academy if his other grades would be just a bit better. But since he's been in class with Yazoo he made some progress. "

"I think he's our man. We have to convince him to tell us what is going on at their home. We must make clear that his brother needs help and that we are the ones who can help him."

Sceptically Tseng thought about that. "I don't know…"

Reaching over the table, Elena grabbed his hand, pleading. "Please."

Sighing, the other shrugged in agreement. He couldn't refuse her like this. "I'll see what I can do. But don't expect too much."

She flashed him her most thankful smile. "Then let's meet here tomorrow after school again."

tbc


	8. Chapter 8

8

Impatiently she ordered her second coffee. Today it was raining so she had to sit inside. Tseng was nearly half an hour late and she tried to make out his frame through the thick rain drops rolling down the window.

Suddenly the door swang open and a very wet and grumpy looking Tseng entered the café. He glanced around the room and went straight to her table, leaving a wet path behind him.

Shuddering, he ordered some VERY hot coffee and sank down on his chair.

"And?" Elena couldn't hold back any longer, she burnt to know if he had been successful.

"Good evening to you too," he stated cooly and she apologized instantly. Being appeased Tseng put some sugar into his coffee.

"He doesn't want to help us. He said he isn't authorized to talk about family things to strangers. He was nervous, if not to say afraid. No way we are getting anything out of him."

"Great." Frustrated she smashed the spoon into her half drunken tea.

"I´m sorry," was all the other one could say.

"Yeah. Me too." Without any further explanation she grabbed her bag and stomped out of the room.

Ignoring the rain which made her cloths cling to her slim body and blurred her vision, she almost ran through the streets, not bothering were she was going.

Just wanting to do _something_, to go _somewhere._

She didn't feel like going home, knowing that she couldn't bear sitting restlessly on the sofa.

Not caring for other pedestrians she made her way through the city, not listening to the angry shouts.

Finally she had to stop since she couldn't breath anymore and her side was exploding.

Exhausted she leaned against a wall, taking a look at her surroundings for the first time and noticing that her feet had taken her to an exclusive area. Instead of the crumbled, dirty houses which represented most of the city she was surrounded by impressive mansions with exotic gardens and high fences.

"Great," she growled, recognising that she was hopelessly lost.

Of couse she hadn't been here before. The rich didn't like to see ordinary people in their area and she had never felt the need to go up here to see what she would never have. Although she taught at an elitist school for mainly upper class kids, her salary was not nearly high enough to share their living conditions.

Pushing herself away from the wall, she searched the street for someone who could show her the way back to the inner city, but apart from a small figure a good hundred meters away, there was no one in sight.

Becoming more and more upset, Elena started to run after the person before he or she could disappear, but the nearer she got, the slower she became until she merely walk. Somehow the frame of the person was familiar, but the rain was still too heavy to see clearly who it was.

She was following a child who was carrying a heavy bag in one and a black umbrella in the other hand. The kid had some difficulties with the burden, which was hopelessly jam-packed and threatened to explode every given moment.

Suddenly he or she stopped to change hands and in a very brief moment Elena caught a glimpse of wet silver hair. Surprised she stopped and hide behind a corner. Peeking around, she noticed that Kadaj had continued his way and decided to follow this divine hint. Carefully, so he wouldn't notice her presence, she went after him.

The further they walked, the bigger and more exclusive the houses became. In her opinion one even couldn't call them houses anymore but palaces…

Finally, in front of a very huge and beautiful mansion with big windows, a large balcony and a little tower -which reminded her of a small castle- her student stopped to open the heavy metal gate.

Once he was inside Elena sneaked in, briefly wondering that it wasn't locked.

Kadaj was nowhere in sight, but there wasn't much where he could have gone except for the house and through the mud she could make out some small footsteps which where exactly leading there. Carefully she made her way through the perfectly designed garden, taking in the scent of exotic flowers and trees.

When Elena reached the dark, wooden front door she hesitated. What was she going to say? She had no reason to come here… But there was no way in hell she would go back now! She decided to worry about her motives later, straightened up and knocked at the door.

Although she told herself to not be silly, her heart was pounding in her chest, and her hands started to sweat. There was absolutely no reason to be nervous…

Well.

There wasn't.

Because nothing happened. After a minute she tried again but got no reaction at all. Becoming impatient she tried again, this time shouting "Kadaj! I know you are at home, I have seen you. Open the door please."

Some seconds passed without an answer and she was about to give up, when a muffled voice came from the other side of the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Miss Elena."

A brief pause. "What do you want?"

"I need to talk to your father," she explained and added after a second. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad."

There was another pause, then Kadaj answered in a slightly aggressive manner. "He's not at home."

Elena sighed in relief before gathering herself together. "I can wait for him."

"I'm not allowed to let strangers in. He would become angry." From the spiteful way Kadaj said _he_ Elena suggested that he was talking about his father.

Giving her voice a soothing tone she tried again. She was so close… "Don't you thing he would be even angrier if he finds out that you let your teacher stay outside in the rain and catch a cold?"

At first there was no reaction and she feared that he had gone, but then the door opened a bit and one single cat eye peeked out. Without another word it vanished and the blond woman stepped in.

She nearly lost her breath once inside. The house had been looking beautiful from the outside but it hadn't prepared her for its inside.

She stood inside a cathedral like hall, which reminded her of a gothic dome, just more pompous. Now she noticed that the huge windows were filled with coloured glass, which pictured different scenes of a mysterious nature. Most of the hall was made from black, polished stone. There was a wide double stairway which was covered by expensive looking black velvet, designed with silver ornaments. In front of her was an antique sofa with two fitting chairs, also overlaid with black velvet. But what impressed her most was that everything was incredibly clean and shining. She would have had no problems to eat from the ground here!

After Elena had taken a long look she noticed Kadaj´s absence and searched the hall for him. There were only two doors downstairs. The one to her left was closed but the right was only leaned on. It was the kitchen door and this room was no less impressive then the first one. Here the windows weren´t coloured, but the rest was similar to the entrance. Black, polished stone, antique furniture and no signs of dust or dirt.

Something else appeared to be strange. A huge cupboard which seemed to be the fridge had been locked with a massive lock. Raising an eyebrow at this she took a step forward, but stopped when she heard a voice next to her. "Father doesn't want us to open it. He decides if we eat, when we eat and what we eat"

There, under the kitchen table, Kadaj kneeled on the ground and cleaned it with an old brush. Astonished Elena bent down to be on eye level with him but he avoided her gaze. Instead he pretended to be fully concentrated on cleaning and washing away the mud she had taken in.

Getting a bad conscience, Elena hurried to get out of her dirty shoes and grabbed an old cloth to help him. So they made their way back into the hall. The blond watched her student out of the corner of her eyes, but he seemed to have decided to ignore her presence.

"I have to say that this is the cleanest house I've ever seen," Elena finally mentioned aprrovingly.

Cleaning the last bit of the ground Kadaj stated somewhat proudly. "Yepp. That's all done by me."

"All…by you?" Turning away and pretending to polish a stone, the teacher tried to hide her shock.

Kadaj had stopped and sat with crossed legs on the ground, looking around and nodding. Then his face darkened a bit and he added. "Well… Loz is helping. Sometimes. But only if Yazoo orders him to do so. Mostly it's my job."

Elena sat next to him. "I see… You are very good at it." She smiled at him but inwardly screamed.

"I have to. Father can get very angry if something's not like he wants it." He told her in a tone as if they were talking about the weather.

"Oh," was all Elena could manage to say. Licking her lips, she cleared her throat . "And… what are your brothers jobs?"

Polishing a stone with his sleeve, which was rather old, cheap and too small, the boy explained in a bored tone "Loz is doing this and that. All that needs to be done. Splitting wood, carrying around heavy things, repairing stuff and everything. He's extra classes with Yazoo today so I had to do it, but normally he's doing the shopping too. At least he's good for something…"

"And what work does Yazoo?"

Kadaj looked up at her in surprise. "Of course he's not working!" His tone indicated that he thought that she had to be really dull to ask such a silly question. "Father doesn't allow it. He doesn't want him to get dirty or ruin his hands."

Elena just nodded and pressed her lips together.

Continuing with his cleansing, Kadaj fell silent again.

Never before in her life had Elena felt such hatred for a person she hadn't even met yet. Kadaj´s ´father´ obviously had more than enough money to hire people for doing the dirty work but instead he exploited this children. In every possible way.

"Hey." Snapping out of her dark thoughts Elena looked up into Kadajs innocent face. "Want a tour?"

"Yes, why not?" She forced herself to smile and really grinned at the enthusiasm that suddenly rushed through the boy. He jumped to his feet and grabbed her arm to help her up and dragged her to the other door.

"Cool! I never had a guest before. That's the dining room." Elena would have called it a dining _hall_, the chamber was so huge and high she felt lost and very small and unimportant. Fortunately she had not much time to get used to these unpleasant emotions since Kadaj was in the hall back again. All she noticed was the piano, some famous and very expensive paintings on the walls and the endlessly long table which was surrounded by an uncountable number of antique chairs.

They visited some rooms upstairs which were all filled with expensive, aesthetic things. The style was a dark, gothic one but beautiful at the same time. Somehow it looked like an execrated castle.

Elena tried to follow the constant stream of words coming from a very excited Kadaj, but hardly could get every detail he showed her.

After nearly half an hour the boy stopped in the last corridor. "These are Yazoo's rooms. I'm not sure if he wants you to see them…" He hesitated, then an unsure smile appeared on his face and he leaned forward to whisper into Elena's ear, who bent down a bit. "But we don´t need to tell him you saw them…"

"No, we don´t. That's our secret then," Elena whispered back in a conspiratorial manner.

Kadaj giggled, excited to share something with someone who weren't his brothers. Carefully he opened the door and sneaked in.

Elena followed quickly, closing the door behind her. When she turned around, her jaw dropped. By now she had to had known what would await her but this was just… ridiculous.

The room was stuffed with everything a boy at Yazoo's age could desire. Books, CD´s, video games, DVDs, just everything. There was the biggest flat-screen TV installed on one wall she had ever seen. It must have cost more money than she earned in a year. The boy owned the newest notebook on the market, giant stereo equipment and of course his furniture were as expensive and exclusive as the rest of this house. To her left was another half opened door, through which she could make out a bathroom made from black marble, garnished with delicate silver fittings.

Bestowing her attention back upon the room she just stood in, she noticed that the boy even had his own fridge. Kadaj went to the aforementioned thing, opened it and got out two coke.

Throwing one of the cans into her direction he let himself fall on the four poster bed. From the way it shook under his weight she could tell that it was a water bed.

"Cool, eh?" Kadaj spread his arms wide and stared at the black velvet baldachin. He behaved as if it was all his.

"Sometimes Yazoo lets me watch TV here or we play some video games," he continued in a dreamy voice. Suddenly he sat upright and fear was swinging in his tone. "You won't tell father about that?"

"No, of course not, " she calmed him down, still observing the room. He was right, this was _cool._ But Elena didn't want to know what price Yazoo had to pay for all this…

All of a sudden, she didn't want to be here, she felt as if she couldn't breath in here and hardly withstood the urge to flee out of the room. She didn't want to confuse Kadaj, so instead Elena asked him to show him his own room.

"Just a minute. I want to show you something else before." He jumped from the bed and grabbed her hand again to lead her to a door she hadn't noticed yet.

Behind it was a huge wardrobe closet, which was filled with a number of clothes and shoes that could have made every woman on the planet green with envy.

Slowly she walked past the well organized designer trousers, shirts, sleeves, lingerie… Elena abruptly stopped. Eyes going wide, she stared at the black corsage.

"I think I've seen enough now. Show me your room."

Kadaj, who had waited at the door, just shrugged and left. When they stood in the corridor again, the blond woman closed her eyes for a moment. Her legs nearly gave away and all that kept her from breaking down was Kadaj´s presence. The boy frowned and waited some feet away. "You okay?"

"Yes, yes. I just… haven't eaten enough today I suppose," she informed him with a fake smile. He didn't seem to notice that she was lying for which she was quite thankful.

"I'd like to give you something to eat but the fridge and everything is locked. I'm hungry too." He sighed and looked sad for a moment, but then a grin spread wide on his face. "Don't worry. Yazoo's coming home soon, he has a key." She couldn't help but admire his optimism. He surely wasn't one to break easily.

"But first I want to show you the rest of the house," he exclaimed and headed towards the stairs again.

"Wait, what about the other rooms down there?" Elena motioned to the doors in the corridor behind her.

"These are father´s rooms. We are not allowed to go there. They are locked anyway," Kadaj growled over his shoulder and scampered down the stairs.

Frowning, the blond followed. She wanted to know what dirty secrets lay behind those doors, but then… Maybe it was better she didn't.

Hurriedly she ran down the stairs to catch up with Kadaj, who was laughing and teasing her for being so slow. Then all of a sudden he became serious and asked her if she really wanted to see his room. Elena nodded and he opened another door. There was a huge, nice bed in there, a desk, a locker, some books and a TV. Everything was expensive but there was nothing personal, nothing that indicated a nine year old was living here.

"That's your room?" Elena wondered aloud.

"Yeah." Kadaj didn't look her in the eye, instead dancing and spinning around the room.

"It's nice."

"Yeah." He stopped. Then he sighed. "Well, fine. It's not my room. But if I could choose one it would be mine. My own." There was this sad, but at the same time stubborn look in his green eyes again.

"Do you want to show me your real room?" Elena asked softly.

"Dunno. Don't want to get into trouble," the boy murmured, staring at his feet.

"I won't tell anyone, ok?" she tried to convince him, observing the contradicting emotions showing on his face. One could tell that he wanted to show her, to share his suffering with someone. But there was also fear, fear to make things worse…

Finally he took her hand, shyly this time, and led her to a hidden door in the entrance hall. Before he opened it, he looked up to her and held her hand so tight it hurt. "You must swear to your life that you won't tell anyone."

Elena raised her left hand and said in a serious voice. "I swear. And if I do, the ground shall open and eat me."

Kadaj giggled and opened the door. It was dark, so they had to carefully walk down the stairs until they reached the end and Kadaj enlightened the cellar.

"Mine and Loz´s room is down there." he informed her and continued to walk down the grey and dirty floor. "He doesn't want us to be around him, we always have to go down when he's home."

It was cold here and Elena shivered, not only from the icy temperature but the thought that the boy had to live and sleep down here. Gods, how she despised this guy who claimed to be his father! Monster would have fit so much better! She almost could see him in front of her inner eye, a fat, bald, feisty man, sweating. Probably made his money with dirty business, seeing nothing in this children but cheap staff. Perverted bastard!

Kadaj stopped at the end of the floor and opened a crumbled door. He turned on the light, a single naked light bulb which blinked a few times before hardly enlightening the small closet.

The walls were naked, not even painted. Just bare, cold stone. On each side of the room stood an old wooden bed without mattresses, just covered by a thin, old blanket. One could hardly walk between them to reach the cupboard which held the little clothes the two owned. The only thing that made this closet a room was the old, tattered poster of a half naked woman which was plastered above one of the beds Elena figured to be Loz´. Kadaj followed her gaze and explained, disgusted. "That's Loz´. He's hiding some more under his bed. He thinks I haven't noticed but honestly I wish I hadn't…"

Elena smiled a bit at this. Soon enough there would be times when he would hide his own magazines.

A sudden noise made her stiffen and Kadaj panicked. "Fuck! He's back!"

His face had gone pale and waxy, drops of sweat rolled down his cheek and he pushed her aside. "Hurry! You have to hide under the bed!"

With wide eyes he nearly forced her down on her knees and turned the light of. It was pitch black, but Elena could hear his teeth chatter. Just what was this man doing to the kids?!

The footsteps came nearer until they finally stopped in front of the door, which swang open the next moment. All Elena could make out was a bulky frame and instinctively she pressed herself deeper under the bed.

"Oi brat! I know you're in here. Don't you dare steeling my magazines!"

Kadaj let out a deep breath and suddenly the light flamed up again. "It's not like you could read them anyway!" he hissed but visibly relaxed.

"They are not to read, super brain," Loz growled and fell onto his bed groggily. "Hey, what's going on. Ya look like you've seen a ghost…"

"Shut up." Kadaj crouched down to look under his bed and motioned for his teacher that everything was ok.

"You thought I was him, he?" Loz grinned in satisfaction and ignored the unarticulated faecal language which was spat into his direction.

"Good evening," Elena grunted, crawling from under the bed.

The next second the air was cut by a high pitched, very unmanly scream which caused the poor woman to cover her ears. Loz sat bolt upright in his bed, staring fearfully at her with trembling lips. He was on the verge of tears again. The only one who seemed to have the time of his life was Kadaj, who rolled on the floor, uncontrollably laughing. "HAHA! You should have seen your face! That's priceless, haha! I bet you pissed your pants…"

Finally recognising that there was nothing to be afraid of Loz relaxed, watching the blond teacher trying to get the dust off of her clothes.

"We'll see who's laughing in the end. You'll get into a lot of trouble for this, you know…" Loz stated, crossing his arms over his chest. Seeing the grin fade away from his younger brother´s face, he smirk.

"You can't tell him! He will… You won't do that, no?"

"Depends… You're doing my housework for the next week and I might forget what I've seen…"

Elena watched the big, young man and blinked. He couldn't be serious, letting his seven year younger brother do his housework!

Kadaj bit down his lip, but gave in. "Fine."

Then he turned around on his heels and spoke to the teacher, who was still standing in the small room. "C´mon now. Yazoo will give us something to eat."


	9. Chapter 9

9

Back in the kitchen Kadaj ordered his teacher to sit down and put a glass of water in front of her. He sat next to her but he was restless, and nervousy eyed the door from time to time.

After some minutes he couldn't sit back anylonger and got up, declaring. "I'll see what takes him so long." With that he was out of the room.

Elena sighed and sipped at her water. This was the strangest afternoon she had had in a while. Right now she didn't wish more than sitting on her own sofa, in her quiet, normal flat, knowing everything was alright. But she couldn't go home now, not after what she had found out. She just wished Tseng could have been with her…

Voices came towards the kitchen and she could hear Yazoo laughing. "I'll make you some pancakes. Since you have worked so hard today you need something to-"

He stopped when he walked through the door and saw himself confronted with his younger brother´s teacher. Elena wasn't less shocked.

Instead of his normal school uniform he was wearing a pair of very short and very tight hot pants, which hardly covered anything of his impossible long legs. His black shirt, if she still could call it this, was cut short under his chest, leaving his stomach free, and building a sharp contrast to his white skin. His neck, and the scratch he had gotten the day before, was hidden by a foulard.

He looked like a very expensive whore, and she might have considered that he was damn sexy if he hadn't practically been one of her students and only been thirteen years old. Tilting his head to the side he gathered himself together. "What is she doing here?"

The question was addressed to his younger brother, although he didn't stop watching Elena. She could tell by this look that he was less than pleased to find her in his kitchen.

"She wanted to talk to father and I thought-" came the reluctant reply from behind.

"What did father tell us about letting in strangers?" Yazoo asked, still focused on their ´guest´.

"We are not allowed to let anyone in here," Kadaj mumbled, pawing the ground. "But it was raining outside and-"

With a simple gesture of his hand the long haired boy silenced his brother.

"What do you want in my house?"

This time he was talking to the blond and didn't even pretend to be nice.

Elena had to gulp. This arrogance just left her speechless. She hadn't expected him to jump at the idea of her visiting them, but this was nearly too much.

"I think I better talk about this with your father. It's absolutely none of your business," she finally answered coldly, making herself at home by crossing her legs and indicating that she was not going to leave nor tell him anything.

"I can assure you that he doesn't want to talk to _you_. Leave or I'll call the police."

"What?" Elena wasn't sure she had heard right. He couldn't be serious, could he?!

"I think you understand me very well. I won't repeat it." He had crossed his arms over his chest, looking confident, but somehow she doubted he felt like it.

"What's wrong with you? I didn't do anything to you which would justify your impolite behavior!"

Yazoo didn't answer, just stared at her with angry green eyes.

"Why don't you want me to talk to your father when you have nothing to hide anyway? " Her voice was friendly again, as she reminded herself that it wasn't his fault. The only one she could blame for his behavior was his so-called father.

"I have my reasons. Now get out, before-" he said through gritted teeth but was interrupted by the shutting front door.

He spun around quickly, looking at Kadaj and hissed "Get out of here!", then he left the kitchen.

A very pale Kadaj rushed past her and vanished through another hidden door, leaving her confused and alone.

The time had come. Elena was just a few seconds away from meeting the perverted, paedophile, fat bastard. Her heart was pounding again and she tried to get back control over her shaking hands. From the other room she could hear muffled voices but didn't understand what they were saying, so she tiptoed to the door to eavesdrop.

"… told her to go, but she refused to." This was Yazoo.

"Did she say what she wanted?" Elena was surprised by the low voice. She hadn't expected the monster to sound so… nice and soft.

"No, just that she wanted to talk to you. I don't know how she found us, I swear I didn't-"

"Don't worry. I think I know very well. We can discuss this later. Now introduce me to our unexpected guest."

"But you can't talk to her!" Yazoo protested but was interrupted by his father.

"I can and I will. Now be a good boy and follow my orders, will you?" This was said in a soft, lenient tone but didn't lack an unquestionable authority. This man was used to command and that his orders were followed. Hearing the footsteps, Elena went back quickly to sit at the table again, putting on a face which made her look like she was impatient from waiting.

Curious she stared towards the door. An eternity seemed to pass until it finally swang open and Yazoo stepped in again. But what followed was the last thing she would have EVER expected.


	10. Chapter 10

10

With her mouth hanging open, she stared wide eyed at the man behind Yazoo. Suddenly she asked herself how she could have been so dumb. It had been obvious, hadn't it?!

Instead of the fat, old, bald pervert, she saw herself confronted with a tall man in his mid twenties. And the last thing he was, was fat and bald. She had seen him uncountable times before. And like nearly every woman on the planet she had desired him, freaked out when he was on TV and had her secret dreams about candle light dinners and romantic beach walks. This just wasn't happening…

It was.

The great General Sephiroth, idol of millions of people slowly walked towards her, smiling his heart breaking smile, his impressive long silver hair waving behind him.

Elena shut her mouth and opened it, just to shut it again. She was totally caught of guard. She didn't know what to say nor what to do. Everything was spinning around and when he reached out to shake her hand, her world went black.

"Can you hear me?" The voice was muffled and she had some difficulties to understand it.

Something cool was spread into her face and with a moan she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a blur of silver and green, but after a while she managed to focus her view. Elena looked into two wonderful, emerald cat eyes, which where full of concern and belonged to the man she had been secretly in love with since the first time she had seen him. But then, who wasn´t?

She suddenly noticed his strong arms around her shoulders, holding her, stopping her from falling to the hard ground. How often had she imagined this in her lonely nights when it was just her and her thoughts…

Now it was real and for a moment she was the luckiest woman on the planet. That was, until she remembered how it had come to the situation.

Struggling, she broke free and sat on the cold floor, still a bit confused and disorientated.

"I suppose she's alright now," someone stated sarcastically and she recognised this someone tobe Yazoo, who leaned against the table, legs and arms crossed. "I told you it wouldn't be a good idea," he added into his fathers direction.

"Yes. You have been right. Like always. But now it happened and cannot be made undone. I would appreciate it if you would get a glass of water for our guest, " Sephiroth replied politely, looking up from his crouched position. Without complaining this time Yazoo left them and the general threw his attention back at Elena. "Shall I help you up?"

"No, no. I'm fine, thanks." She hurried to jump to her feet and regretted it soon after. Her vision blurred again and she grabbed the table for support.

"You better sit down," Sephiroth advised with this commanding voice of his, and before she even could think about it she sat on a chair.

"I apologise for this. We should have prepared you." He sat down in front of her, looking apologetic.

"No, really. I am sorry for causing you trouble. Normally I'm not one to fall unconscious." She shock her head and looked down at her still shaking hands.

"Don´t worry. That happens constantly. I'm used to it." He gave her a small, reassuring smile, Elena nearly lost herself in, as a glass of water blocked her view and was set down in front of her.

"Thank you." She looked up at Yazoo gratefully, who just gave her a short nod. He still seemed to be tense and worried, albeit not so much about her but what she might could tell his father…

Elena took a big sip of her water. So here she was. Sitting at a table with the great general. The paedophile, sadistic general. This thought was so absurd she nearly choked.

This just couldn't be. Somehow they must have made a mistake. There had to be a logical explanation for all of this. She _begged _that there was one.

Sephiroth just sat patiently on his chair, waiting for her to start a conversation. He didn't look the least bit like a monster, on the contrary his features were relaxed and soft, his eyes friendly.

"Do you feel better now?"

"Yes, thank you," Elena managed to say with a harsh voice and took another sip.

"May you tell me now why you wanted to talk to me?"

"I… yes, I…" she stuttered, blushing. What was she going to do now? She had no idea what to tell him!

"Just relax, take a deep breath and try again," the general told her in a way one would talk to a child, but it worked. After taking a deep breath an idea hit her and she spoke again. "It is about Kadaj."

Was it just the dimming light outside or did his view darken?

"What is it with Kadaj? Did he get himself into trouble?" It must have been the light. His voice was concerned and soothing, holding no signs that he was angry.

Nevertheless she hurried to deny this by shaking her head. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Yazoo clutching his jaw.

"No, I'm just a bit worried because… Well it seems he has a problem to make friends. After two months he still isolates himself and I thought it might help him to visit one of our school clubs. So his classmates and he can get along better."

Before Sephiroth had the chance to answer, their attention was captured by a harsh choking sound. Their heads turned around to watch Yazoo who was hanging next to the sink, gasping for air. His eyes rolled wildly until they could only see the white, and a second later he fell to the ground, squirming in agony, trying to breath.

Elena was too shocked by the sudden interruption, but the general reacted so fast she didn´t even see him move.

Cradling the squirming body in his arms he fingered something out of his pocket, all the time whispering reassuring words and stroking over the boy´s head. His face was nearly as pale as his sons when he carefully inserted a white, little pill into his mouth.

"Sh, kitten, it´s over soon. I´m here…" He continued stroking the shivering boy´s head, softly pulling sweat wet hair out of his face, and rocking for and back a bit, to calm the youth down.

Elena, who had jumped from her seat when she had heard the unexpected noise, sat down heavily, taking a deep breath on her own. So he really was ill. And it seemed to be bad.

Seeing how lovingly and worriedly Sephiroth treated his child, noticing the fear in his eyes made her shaking her head in disbelief. This man wouldn´t hurt Yazoo. Therefore they _must_ have made a mistake.

"Excuse me."

Elena nodded and watched the general carrying Yazoo, whose breathing became regular again, out of the kitchen.

She drank the rest of her water and waited nearly 20 minutes for his return. Finally he came back, looking tired but relieved.

"How is he?"

"Better." He answered shortly, pouring himself a glass of water and drinking it with his back turned towards her.

"I think, I better go now…" She grabbed her bag and left the table, when he sat down the glass and came after her.

"Wait, I´ll drive you home."

"Oh no, that´s not necessary, I can walk on my own! Surely you have more important things to do-"

"I insist. It is already dark outside and the streets are not save these days. Above all for a young woman."

Giving in, she followed him through the hall and outside to a black limousine. It was just impossible to resist him. And honestly, she didn´t really want to. First of, it _was_ dangerous in the city, secondly she didn´t know the way back and lastly there were worse things than getting driven home by the great general.

She sat next to him and he started the engine.

Most of the way they drove without talking, Yazoo´s attack still had its impact on both of them. Elena had been convinced that the boy had lied and was perfectly fine but the events of the evening had told her otherwise.

She cleared her throat and started the conversation she had to made. "Does he get these attacks often?"

Not taking his eyes away from the empty street Sephiroth sighed. "It´s getting worse lately. Especially when something discomposes him."

"I´m asking, because neither of us teachers knew he is that ill. And if he´s getting an attack at school, we won´t be able to help him…"

"The school doctor is informed. But you are right, the risk is too high. I just did not want him to feel… weak and different. You know, he is such a proud person…His classmates should not know, he has enough problems being the youngest anyway."

"I see…" Elena didn´t know what else to say and they fell silent again. Outside the dark houses and few people passed by. At least it had stopped raining. A half moon spend the only, poor light. Electricity was a luxury these days, expensive, and everybody tried to use as little light as possible. The nights had become dark again, the former busy nightlife had been reduced to a minimum.

"Did Kadaj show you around the house?" The question came out so unexpected that she was about to tell the truth,when the young teacher remembered her promise.

She wet her lips. "Not much. Only the entrance and the kitchen."

"Mh."

"But what I saw was impressive. A very unique style. And everything was so incredible clean…" She couldn´t resist, but to mention this.

"Yes. That´s the boys work."

His frankness really surprised her. Making an innocent face she asked "You mean they clean it? But don´t you have enough money to pay someone to do that?"

He laughed. "Of course I have. But that is not the point. They have to learn what work really is. They shall not forget where we come from. I don´t want them to become arrogant, spoiled brats, not knowing what to do with their money but taking drugs. We are privileged and they should make this experience on their own. They have to learn that there is another life and they shall respect working people. I have seen enough of those upper class kids, who command around others, looking down on them and feeling like something better. They are not. When they have learned this lesson I will have no problem to offer them whatever I can. I know they do not like it and think I want to torture them, but I hope some day they will understand."

"Oh." She could have smacked herself for thinking he was a sadistic, avaricious pervert. Ashamed, she glanced outside the window.

"You have to drive right. It´s the second house on the left."

He slowly took the corner and finally stopped in front of her apartment.

"Here we are. Before you leave I want you to do me a favour."

She looked up at him in surprise. Sephiroth had turned his head towards her and met her gaze intensively. Suddenly Elena knew that she would do everything he´d request from her.

"Yes?" Elena breathed, leaving the car door half open.

"I want you to not tell anyone about who the boys father is. I don´t want them to have advantages, or maybe disadvantages at school. No comments of my identity to anyone."

"Ok…" Gods, he was so beautiful…

Flashing her a thankful smile he nodded, then he took something out of his pocket and put it into her sweating hand. "This is my number. If there are any problems with one of the boys don´t hesitate to call me, alright?"

Her heart forgot to pound for nearly a second. "Y-yes, of course. You can count on me," she stuttered and hastily put the card into her bag.

"Thank you. Well, I don´t want to steal more of your time. Good night."

"Good night." With shaking legs, Elena left the car, shut the door and waved her hands for a good bye. She watched the general wheeling the car and driving away. Incredibly relieved that her worries were entirley unfounded and clutching her bag and the precious in it to her chest tightly, she made her way up to the apartment.


	11. Chapter 11

11

Kadaj heard the car stopping in front of the mansion he refused to call his ´home´. Shortly after, the sound of heavy footsteps followed and the way they angrily stomped up the stairs told him it wasn´t over yet.

They promised pain.

Shivering he crawled deeper under the blanket, a poor attempt to hide from what surely was to come and knowing that there was no escape.

Sephiroth was pissed.

Clinging to his teddy bear -the only toy he had been allowed to keep and the last remaining thing of their old life apart from his memories- he waited.

Next to him Loz snorted. Lucky, dumb Loz.

Kadaj almost envied him for being so oblivious and soft headed,for just ignoring the trouble and sleep. But since his dreams had turned into nightmares that wasn´t much of an option either… Although right now he would have rather coped with some imaginary monster than the real one.

The door opened with a shrieking sound.

Peeking out fearfully from under his pillow, Kadaj sighed in relief when he noticed the slim figure of his brother instead of that of his punisher.

"He wants to see you." Yazoo tilted his head, then left the room to wait outside.

Slowly Kadaj got out of his bed, not too thrilled to see his father as soon as possible. Since it was dark he didn´t see where he was going and promptly tripped over something, falling to the cold ground.

Rubbing his poor ass, Kadaj got to his feet and slowly walked out of the closet. His butt wouldn´t be the only thing to hurt at the end of the night…

Yazoo turned around and walked to the cellar door with long strides, not waiting for his little brother to follow. Kadaj had some difficulties to catch up, but finally jogged next to the long haired one.

"Is he…very angry?" Fearfull eyes looked up, but went unnoticed. Yazoo held his gaze straight forward, avoiding his little brother´s troubled and pale face.

"Yes."

Kadaj bit his lip and walked a bit slower. As if this would help to get away from Sephiroths wrath… On the contrary, the longer he had to wait to satisfy his sadistic needs, the messier it would get. And this was a lesson Kadaj had learned on his own.

Eventually they reached the heavy wooden doors of the salon and the brothers came to a halt.

"This time you are on your own. You know the rules. There is nothing I can do."

Surprised Kadaj looked at his brother again, who seemed to find it incredibly interesting to count the tiles on the ground.

"It´s not fair," the younger pressed through gritted teeth.

"Life never is."

With this, Yazoo knocked on the door, his face an expressionless mask. When had he started to become so… indifferent? There was no time for Kadaj to consider, since the cold voice of his father ordered them to enter.

With shaking legs, the younger followed the older, sneaking into the room and making himself as small as possible.

He didn´t dare to look up, or have the courage to look straight into Sephiroth´s face. He had done this once and immediately regretted it. Best was to just make a guilty face and wait until it was over…

"You can leave now. Wait upstairs. I won´t take long." This nearly softly spoken words were obviously not addressed to him but still, the first moment Kadaj was incredibly relieved.

´I won´t take long´… This sounded promising. But the next moment he realised that the shorter his punishment went, the longer Yazoo´s would be…

Clenching his fists he stared at the ground, listening to the sound of the shutting door. Now it was only him and his father.

"Look at me." The cold command forced him to automatically lift his gaze. Sephiroth had this impact on nearly everyone. It was just impossible to refuse his orders.

The silver haired man sat in a large, comfortable chair, casually holding a glass with a dark golden liquid and generally giving a relaxed impression. But Kadaj knew better. And a short look into the general´s icy green orbs confirmed his fears.

"Well." Sephiroth took a sip from his glass, never letting his eyes from his victim. "What do you have to say to your defence?"

Kadaj´s mouth was filled with a bitter liquid. He gulped and mumbled "I…"

"I cannot hear you. Stand straight," the general interrupted him rudely and watched with satisfaction how the boy flinched. Then Kadaj gathered himself together, straightened, cleared his throat and started in an almost provoking loud tone. "Sir, I have to say that it wasn´t my faul-"

The first hit connected with his stomach and Kadaj thought the world had come to an end. A fire exploded deep in his guts, all air was knocked out of him and his legs gave in. Holding his stomach he rolled over to the side, eyes squeezed shut and tried very hard to not vomit on the expensive carpet. That would only give the general another reason for more punches. Not that he would have needed any.

"Not your fault, mh?" Another punch, this time on his back, made the boy scream. "Tell me Kadaj, whose fault was it?" The general´s voice was calm, friendly.

Heavy boots seemed to crush every bone in his body, that only consisted of agony by now. He wasn´t able to answer, even if he had been physically, he couldn´t have brought himself to do so. Because there was no right answer. Whatever he said wouldn´t matter. Sephiroth wouldn´t listen anyway. It would only lead to more punishment.

"Answer." The blows stopped abruptly, and two green, merciless eyes took their time to watch the whimpering, crying boy and to enjoy his agony.

Finally, Kadaj managed a "The teachers" through sobs, but he cried out again when his hair was roughly gripped and his head jerked back. Sephiroth slapped him hard, VERY hard in the face.

The boy´s eyes went wide. Not only from the pain that exploded on his cheek and the ringing in his ears. Sephiroth never EVER had hurt him where it could be seen! Either he was really angry or had lost control … and Kadaj wouldn´t make it to the other day.

"Please it..it was my fault, just my fault, please don´t kill me… I won- won´t do it again, please…"

A sadistic smile crept over the general´s fair face, which turned into a disgusted snarl when the child´s bladder emptied itself, not standing the pressure of fear any longer.

He smashed the boy´s head to the ground, and left the room without another look at his unconscious child. If he couldn´t scream there was no pleasure in torturing him and Sephiroth had other things to do. Things that promised to be much more… fun.

With a small smile he walked up the stairs.


	12. Chapter 12

12

Kadaj groaned. Every bone in his fragile, little body hurt and screamed.

But at least he was alive…

Forcing his eyes open, he took a short look at his surroundings. He was in his bed in the cellar?

"Wake up, brat." Someone threw him not too gently out of his bed. The boy growled. Loz stood next to him, already clad in his school uniform and frowned. "Would you get ya ass moved now, or what? I didn´t drag you down here and cleaned you up for you to get beaten up again."

Kadaj hissed under his breath and managed to stand on his still weak legs for some seconds before they gave away and he sat down heavily.

"Oh, come on, it couldn´t have been that bad…" Loz leaned over him and wrapped a strong arm around his younger brother´s torso to support him. His voice wasn´t teasing, but low and he was speaking more to himself. Kadaj wasn´t sure but he thought to have heard a slightly concerned edge within the other´s voice…

"I´m fine!" The boy pushed his brother away and glared at him. He hated to be weak…

Loz had a stupid and surprised look on his face, then it went angry and he turned his back on the other. "Hmpf, fuckin´ brat…"

Kadaj bit his lip and started to get ready for school. There was an old sink in the cellar, which provided them with a little cold water, so they could brush their teeth and wash their faces. He took a look into the mirror fragment Loz had found somewhere and managed to put on the naked wall.

It was a bit too high for the boy to see his face completely, even when he stood on the tip of his toe, but from what he could see his face was ok. It still hurt but there was nothing that indicated his little conversation with the general. Sighing, Kadaj held his face under the thin jet of water. He still had to figure out if it was a good thing that they healed so fast, faster than normal people.

He didn´t know why this was so, it simply happened. His wounds had almost completely vanished over night, like they always did.

He dried his face and got dressed. With an old hairbrush he combed his messed up silver hair and winced at the knots, but there was no time left to be careful. He was already late and that wouldn´t please his father…

"Will you stop now and come? Doesn´t make you look better anyway." Loz stood at the door and stomped with his foot against the wall impatiently.

Kadaj rolled his eyes, threw the comb into the sink and grabbed his bag.

As quietly as they could the two of them slipped into the hallway and tiptoed to the front door. When they passed by the salon, Kadaj noticed through the open door that Loz had cleaned the carpet for him and he almost regretted his harsh behaviour towards his biggest brother. Loz might be stupid and unnerving and most of the time they were fighting, but still…

Loz had taken a short look into the kitchen and came back, looking concerned.

"He isn´t here…" he whispered. Kadaj´s hands balled into fists. "Maybe… he comes down in a minute. Let´s wait."

Loz nervously eyed the first floor where his fathers rooms were, but gave a short nod.

Kadaj stared at the clock. Normally the middle brother waited in the kitchen.

Maybe Yazoo had just overslept and would jump down the stairs with an apologizing look and a smile on his face. He would get them their lunches from the fridge and ruffle his hair and ask if he was alright and then they would go to school together and everything was okay…

"He isn´t coming…" Loz mumbled. Kadaj could swear he saw one single tear at the corner of Loz´ eyes but he didn´t say anything.

Sighing he carefully went to the front door and out of this madhouse which was his ´home´. Loz followed a little behind but caught up soon. They made their way through their quarter in silence and even the bright, warm sun light and the sweet scent of the flowers couldn´t push the dark thoughts of the boys away.

"I´m hungry…" Kadaj´s stomach made itself noticed in a rather aching manner. He hadn´t eaten for how long now? Two days? And beside this he had thrown up the little he'd had left in his body…

Loz made a grunting noise, but the next moment his stomach began to grumble too.

Kadaj opened his mouth to say something vicious, but then decided not to. After all, Loz had done so much for him last night, he did deserve a ceasefire.

Kadaj cleared his throat. "So…thank you…for last night and all…" It came out somewhat stubborn, even though he really meant it.

The silver haired boy glanced at his older brother, but stared back to the ground immediately. Loz seemed to be very upset, he had clenched his teeth and stared angrily at him.

Loz being angry was never good…

"Pah, I didn´t do this for YOU! I did it so he wouldn´t hurt Yazoo more! It´s all _your_ fault, you´re such an ungrateful brat! He´s doing everything to protect you, and you… you only make it worse! He´s probably having the worst pain and you´re complaining about that you´re HUNGRY!"

His voice nearly snapped and he had become louder with every word. He really had a hard time to not slap the brat across the face.

Kadaj bit his lip and kept staring at the ground. It wasn´t fair…

"Stop blaming _me_, I´m sorry, ok? I didn´t want this to happen either, and at least I even tried to help!" Now it was Kadajs turn to yell. "What are you doing ? You´re only crying and whining like a baby and never doing ANYTHING! If you would love him as much as I do, you would help him! But maybe you are just too stupid."

That was it. Loz lost it and grabbed his little brother by the collar.

"How dare you…" His voice was low and merely a growl. His green eyes were burning into his younger brother´s equallyemerald orbs, who stared back at him, pouting.

"With your stupid actions you´re not helping anyone! How dare you say I don´t love him!" Now he was really crying. "You think I want him to be hurt? I don´t. But I´m not doing anything until he wants me to. And you 're not doing anything stupid anymore either or I´ll get _really_ angry!" To underline his statement he pulled the boy a little closer, snarling.

Kadaj showed him his teeth and was about to spit into his face, when he noticed just how tired and worried the other was. How hurt he felt because of his younger brother´s words.

So instead he shrugged and stated in a mocking tone, imitating the middle brother. "Don´t cry Loz."

The big guy snorted but let go of Kadaj. The boy unraveled his clothes and looked up to met Loz´ suspicious gaze. "Stop giving me that look. I´m not doing anything, ok?" He crossed his arms over his chest and liftet his chin.

Loz narrowed his eyes and demanded in a childlike manner "Promise."

Rolling his eyes, Kadaj did it and Loz looked a bit more satisfied.

"Fine. Can we go now?" Kadaj noticed the time on a public watch and cursed. The last meters to school they ran.

-------------------------Later that day...----------------------

"Kadaj, please wait."

The boy tensed and stopped dead in his tracks. He had known.

It just would have been too easy.

The whole day at school had gone rather well. Since he had managed to cool the swelling on his cheek down to a minimum no one had realised, not even his stupid teacher who was more or less responsible for his misery. He had almost reached the school´s front door, allowing himself to be relieved, when the deep voice had stopped him just inches away from his goal. Life was never fair.

Slowly he turned around to look into Tseng´s friendly face. Fake. Just fake. They always pretended to be nice. But in the end it only meant punishment for him.

Expressionless he stared back, but this didn´t wipe away that stupid, sympathetic smile from the mans face.

"What is it? You know, my bus is coming and I´m already late…"

"I´m sorry. I won´t take long."

Brilliant.

´I won´t take long´ meant it was getting messy. A lesson he had learned just yesterday, thank you very much.

"I just wondered where your brother was, he wasn´t at school tod-"

"He´s ill." The boy interrupted him rather rudely and was about to turn around again to get his bus, when a hand hold his arm. Automatically the boy flinched and couldn´t held back a hiss.

"Oh. Seems… you are ill, too…" the man had carefully lifted his shirt a bit and recogniced the deep purple bruise. Hastily Kadaj escaped his grip and lifted his chin in a provoking manner. "I tripped."

"I see," Tseng stated calmly.

"I have to go now." Looking as self-confident as he could Kadaj straightened up and marched, finally, through the door.

"The bus is gone. But I can drive you home if you want."

"NO!" Kadaj´s head turned around and offered the teacher the most shocked expression he had ever seen on a childs face.

The teacher hold his hands up in a calming manner and the boy relaxed.

"No. I will take the next one." With this he nearly fled the building, leaving a confused and head shaking Tseng behind. Whatever Elena had said -which wasn´t much apart from the very convinced statement that the boys father would never EVER lay a hand on his children- he would have an open eye on all of them.

This was the least he could do.

Since Yazoo hadn´t come to school again that day he had tried to get something out of his older brother, but as expected there was more use in carrying water in a sieve than getting something out of Loz. He had only managed to give Loz his phone number, just in case, and which was probably rotting away in a trash can by now.

Sighing, Tseng shook his head again and walked to his car.


	13. Chapter 13

13

Loz was starving. Impatiently he shouted at the brat to hurry goddamnit! He hadn´t had a decent meal for god knows how long and his stomach seemed to explode! He just hoped Yazoo was up to give them something…

Kadaj was panting next to him, his short legs weren´t fast enough to keep tracks with his older brother.

But the prospects of getting something to eat made him run even a little faster. Since they didn´t get any money from the general they couldn´t buy something at school and he already felt a little dizzy from the lack of food.

Finally they arrived at their house and Loz pushed the heavy door open with his foot. Kadaj slipped inside before it could fall back and went straight to the kitchen.

"Hey, wait!" Loz tried to catch him but Kadaj was already through the door. Loz growled. That was so typical. Egoistical little bastard. HE was the oldest and therefore should get his food first!

Mumbling obscenities, he burst into the room and was greeted with a calm "Hello Loz."

His angry expression vanished and he looked relieved and happy at his second youngest brother who sat at the table and already had been claimed by Kadaj, who hugged him tightly and told him in a constant stream just how much he loved him.

Loz walked towards them with long strides and pulled Kadaj away from Yazoo "Oi, brat you´re suffocating him!" Kadaj snarled at the interrupter but let loose.

From a save distanced he asked Yazoo "You ok?" and studied his beloved brother critically, but there were no wounds. Which didn´t say anything about his true condition.

Yazoo gave him a small smile and lightly stroked over the boys hair. "I´m fine. How are you?"

Kadaj´s eyes narrowed slightly. In his opinion, his brother´s carefreeness seemed a little strange, if not forced. But then if he didn´t want to talk about it… Honestly, he was glad that Yazoo wasn´t angry with him.

"I´m ok, too." he stated cheerfully, but then hold his stomach and added. "But I guess I could need something to eat…"

Yazoo leaned over to his little brother. "Well, then let´s see what we have, mh?"

He rose from his chair and pulled out a key from the pocket of his black pants. Kadaj stood directly behind him, but was pushed aside by Loz who gave a triumphant smirk.

"Very mature Loz…" Yazoo scolded over his shoulder while he opened the fridge. Kadaj shot the oldest a spiteful look, rose from the cold floor and stuck out his tongue at Loz.

"I´ll make some spaghetti, so why don´t you two just sit down and stop behaving like some kindergarten children for once." Yazoo had risen an elegant eyebrow at the two and stopped putting out things from the fridge.

"But he started it…" Loz pouted, but sat down obediently. Kadaj grabbed his school bag from the floor and put it to the side. "Hey Yazzy, may I help you?"

"You could put out the dishes." Yazoo faintly smiled at the boy´s enthusiasm, then flipped his long silver hair back and started to cut some tomatoes.

"How was school today?"

"Aww, boring as usual." Loz leaned back and stretched his legs.

"I´m in the actors club now," Kadaj stated proudly and placed three glasses on the table.

"Sounds nice." The middle child put the spaghettis into the boiling water and turned around.

"Oh, the others in the group are stupid but Miss Scarlet is leading it. She´s nice, maybe it´ll be fun." Kadaj shrugged and sat down too.

"Uh.. Little Kadaj´s having a crush on his teacher…" Loz mocked and the boy blushed ".´m not!"

The oldest smirked and gave him an ´I know better´- look, which made the boy even more furious. "Shut up! Yaz, he´s teasing me!"

"Ow, go and run to mommy." Loz´ grin grew wider but vanished when Yazoo stated into his direction. "If I was you I would stop it. That is, if you want something to eat…"

"Hey, why are you always siding with him!"

Kadaj sat in front of the oldest and grinned with satisfaction. "Because he loves me soooooooo much more."

A barely audible sigh from the other side of the kitchen was heard and Yazoo came to the table with a big pot of noodles with tomato sauce. His brothers greedily started eating and stuffed their faces with spaghetti.

"Did anyone ask about me?" Yazoo slowly swirled some noodles around his fork and watched them falling back on his plate.

Loz stopped eating for a moment and looked up. "Mister Tseng asked but I told him you didn´t feel well today…?" he managed through a full mouth.

"Good, thank you." Yazoo gave him a reassuring smile and the big guy proudly straightened a little.

They ate in silence for a while until Yazoo stopped to pick at his foot and pushed the plate away from him.

"Are you not hungry?" Kadaj put his last noodles into his mouth and frowned at the untouched food.

"No, not that much." Yazoo smiled at him again and grabbed for his plate. "You want some more?"

"No, thanks, I´m full." The boy sighed and leaned back to open his upper button.

"Good, then it´s more for me…" the oldest mumbled and smashed another huge portion onto his plate.

"One day you´ll just burst…" Kadaj smirked at his brothers dead glare, but was to lazy to go on.

"Any homework?" This question was addressed at Loz, who squirmed, but finally admitted that there was indeed a LOT of homework.

After the oldest had finished -and even eaten Yazoo´s portion- they cleaned the table, Kadaj washed the dishes and the other two sat down together at the kitchen table to do some algebra.

Or rather: Yazoo did the homework and Loz tried to copy it inconspicuously. Unfortunatly his brother had very good eyes and little mercy. "Loz. What do you think is the purpose of doing homework?"

"Dunno. Torturing poor Loz?"

Yazoo raised an eyebrow and stopped writing numbers on his paper, facing a sweating Loz.

"Well. No. Try again."

Loz moaned and made puppy eyes but Yazoo remained strict.

"It is for me to learn something and to repeat what we learned at school and to improve my skills…" he finally mumbled.

"Right. I would appreciate it if you could keep your eyes on your paper."

Loz crossed his arms in defense and whined. "You´re easy talking, you know everything anyway."

Yazoo looked up from his calculator again. "What do you think how I get my knowledge? It doesn´t come flying to me."

"Yeah, but Loz´s _naturally_ dumb, so I doubt _anything_ will 'improve' his nonexistent skills…" Kadaj chuckled from behind and ducked when a pencil came flying at him.

Yazoo sighed, shook his head lightly and continued with his homework. They were silent for a while again, only the noise of the dishes the youngest put away filling the kitchen.

Loz chewed at the end of his second pencil and tried very hard to solve the problem, really, but it was just SO difficult… He side-glanced at his younger brothers papers again and frowned. Yazoo had stopped to write numbers und just stared absently at the pages of his books.

"Yazoo?" the oldest asked gently, but there was no reaction. Kadaj had finished the cleaning and came back to the table. "What´s wrong?"

Loz shrugged in confusion and motioned with his head to Yazoo.

The youngest brother narrowed his eyes and watched his sibling who was still out of reality. With one hand he reached out and shook his shoulders. "Yazoo, everything ok-"

"Don´t touch me!" His hand was brutally slapped away and the boy made a step back in surprise.

Loz and he gaped with open mouths at their brother who still had his hand raised and glared at Kadaj. Then he seemed to realize what he had done and let it slowly sink down back into his lap.

Kadaj gulped and held his hurting hand behind his back.

For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence until Loz cleared his throat. "Yaz, you ok? You look a little…pale…"

"I´m… I´m fine. Just… a little tired. Excuse me please." With that he stood from the table and quickly left the room, avoiding any eye contact.

His brothers watched him with worried expressions and Kadaj was about to follow him, when a strong hand hold him back.

"Leave him alone…" Loz murmured without looking at him and the boy for once obeyed his order, which appeared to be more like a plea.

Shaking, he sat down on a stool and wrapped his arms around his legs. "It´s all my fault…"

Loz didn´t say anything, just shook his head a bit and blinked away some upcoming tears. Then he cleared his throat again and managed in a more or less steady voice. "Oi, brat, since you´re such a genius- what about that?"

Kadaj just stared at him blankly for a second, then he forced a smirk on his face and rolled his eyes. "Well, big baby, you have to…"


	14. Chapter 14

14

Two hours had passed since their little ´incident´. Kadaj had just finished doing the laundry and Loz was off doing god knows what. The boy carried a basket full of washed clothes up the stairs and into his father´s floor. Grunting, he sat his burden down in front of Sephiroth´s bed room and took a deep breath. With the sleeve of his shirt he wiped away some sweat from his forehead and leaned heavily against the door.

That was it. At least for today.

Still trying to catch his breath he looked down at the neatly folded bedsheets and uniforms.

Suddenly he remembered the first time he had to do the washing. Since he´d never done it before and hadn´t gotten any instructions how to do it -except for "Wash it."- he had, of course, failed and ruined a full set of Sephiroth´s beloved uniforms. He hadn´t even noticed it, the clothes had been clean, much to his relieve, and they still were black. Kadaj had even been a little proud of himself since he had completed the task without mistakes and thought for doing it the first time he had succeeded with bravura. That was, until a very pissed general in a suddenly somehow very small uniform had crushed him into the next wall and introduced him to his whip.

Kadaj whinced at the memory. He hadn´t been able to sit for nearly three days…

Snarling, the boy shot a last look at the basket and pushed himself away from the wall. Slowly he walked back down the corridor. His father could come home every minute and he had no intention to meet him up here. Besides, there was still is own homework waiting for him…

Walking a tad faster he reached the stairs, when he stopped and let his gaze wander to his brothers closed bedroom door.

He hadn´t seen him for the rest of the day and Loz had assured him that Yazoo was alright, but then Loz had no clue anyway… It wouldn´t hurt to knock on the door and see for himself, would it?

The boy swiftly approached the door and gently knocked at it.

"Yazoo? It´s me, Kadaj. I just wanted to ask if you´re alright?" He waited for a minute but no answer came. He knocked again, a little louder this time but there was no reaction at all. Concerned Kadaj pressed an ear against the heavy wooden door but there was no sound.

Chewing his lip, he thought of what to do now and finally opened it. "Hey, I´m coming in, ok?"

Carefully he peeked into the room and stepped into it when he found it empty.

"Yazoo?" Frowning, the boy looked around the semi dark room. Hadn´t his brother announced that he had been tired? But the bed was left untouched…

Kadaj had the unpleasant feeling that something was wrong, but he neither did know what exactly was out of place nor what he should do about it. So he stood in the center of the silent room and watched the red sun going down and filling the chamber with dim orange light.

From here he noticed the birds singing outside in the garden, something he couldn´t hear from his cellar prison. The only companions they had down there were some ugly, really BIG rats with disgustingly long tails, and no matter how many traps they laid out there didn´t seem to be less of them.

Following a sudden urge, Kadaj marched to the window and angrily closed it.

It just wasn´t fair.

He leaned his head against the cool glass and tried to calm down, when he heard a noise from the bathroom. Abruptly he forced his head into the direction of the sound and walked towards the room. The door was closed, but there was no doubt. He could hear the sound of running water.

"Yazoo? Are you in there?" The youngest rapped at the door again. At first he felt relieved that he finally had found his brother but when he didn´t get an answer, he became angry. "You know it would be really nice if you could for ONCE just say something!"

Unnerved he jerked open the door without bothering to ask for permission and pressed his hands against his hips. He hated to be ignored!

His anger was gone when he entered the nearly pitch black room and again had the feeling that something was wrong. "Yazoo?"

With one hand he searched for the switch and suddenly the room was enlightened. "Why the heck are you showering in complete darkness?!"

Yazoo sat on the ground, naked with his arms wrapped around his bend legs, his head tilted and leaning against the tiled wall and he blankly stared into nothingness. A constant stream of water came from the shower and ran down the youth´s slim body. He didn´t seem to notice Kadaj´s presence since there still was no reaction.

"Yazoo? Are… are you ok?" The youngest made an unsure step forward towards the shower.

Slowly the other rolled his head, so that he faced Kadaj, but his eyes were still empty.

"Say something goddamnit!" Curling his hands into fists he made another step. He had no idea what to do and wished he hadn´t come here…

Yazoo just blinked lazily, rolled his head back and continued to stare at the opposite wall.

Kadaj clenched his teeth and suppressed the urge to just pounce at his brother and shake him until he was back to normal.

It was all his fault.

No, not his – the generals!

He was doing this things to his brother and he was responsible for everything! The boy could feel the anger heating his face and growled. Yes, it was his fault and he would kill him, but not too soon. He would torture him first, just like his father had tortured him and his brothers, he would…

"What is going on here."

Hearing the aforementioned general´s voice made the boy´s blood run cold. In an instant the rage had dissipated, together with all his plans for revenge. Wide eyed and tense Kadaj just stood there, opening his mouth to explain himself but no tone came out.

"I asked you what is going on." The generals voice pierced through his head and had become even icier than the day before.

One of the first rules Kadaj had learned was, that it was absolutely forbidden for him and Loz to be in Yazoos rooms. If he didn´t find a very good explanation for his presence he was most likely dead within the next ten minutes.

So his brain worked frantically to make up a good excuse while his tongue wet his lips and he gulped. "I…I´m sorry…I" he finally managed with a shaking voice.

"What are you doing here?"

Kadaj didn´t dare to turn around and face the general but he could feel him coming nearer anyway.

"I was… worried about Yazoo and… and just wanted to see if he… was alright." The boy trembled visibly and looked at his brother for support but there was no help to be expected from him.

The middle child just watched the water running down the wall and ignored everything else.

"I see…" Sephiroth had directly stopped behind his youngest child and eyed him as if he was a slimy, little insect.

"Out."

Kadaj blinked in total confusion. He wasn´t going to be punished? Not pondering too long about this he stormed out of the room before the general could change his mind.

Sephiroth watched the boy stumbling out of the room with a raised eyebrow, then he turned his attention to the boy in the shower.

He approached Yazoo and looked down at the youth, who until now hadn´t acknowledged his presence. Slowly the general held out a hand under the water and frowned slightly.

"You know, you don´t have to shower with cold water. I allowed you to use warm water."

With the other hand he turned off the shower and crouched down so he was eye-level with his protege. Yazoo sat still and looked to the ground. Gently grabbing his chin, Sephiroth forced his head to turn around and meet his gaze.

"You don´t want to catch a cold, do you?"

There was silence for a moment. "No, I don´t want that."

"Good." With a satisfied smile, the general let go. "Now then, be a good boy and get dressed. I will wait for you in the dining room. There´s something I´d like to give to my kitten…"

Head tilted to the side, he stroke over the youth´s wet hair, then stood up and with a last glance left the bathroom.

Yazoo sat there a few seconds longer, before standing on shaking legs and grabbing for a towel.


	15. Chapter 15

15

"Before we start with the test I´d like to introduce you to your new classmate."

Loz growled deep in his throat. Really, all he wanted was to finally get that stupid math test done as best as he could and then probably find some corner to cry and everything that stood between him and his relief was less than welcome. He peered at his brother who sat two seats left from him in a relaxed manner as if there was nothing to fear… Of course he wasn´t afraid of the test, or of any test, to begin with. Frustrated, Loz glared back at Mr. Tseng who already held the questionnaire in his right hand, when the door opened and his world went still for a moment.

A girl entered. But it wasn´t just a girl. It was the girl with the biggest boobs he had ever seen in his entire life! And he had seen MANY girls… Not in reality, of course, but this chick could easily keep up with his magazine babes.

The girl wore a gentle smile and had very dark, chocolate eyes. Her long brown hair was drawn into a ponytail and she was dressed in the usual school uniform, which stretched over her breasts and seemed to burst open every second…

Someone poked at is rips and he whinced.

"Stop drooling, will ya?" His best buddy Rude murmured, an amused gleam in his eyes, which could scarcely be seen behind his ever present sunglasses he even wore at school.

Loz shut his mouth and quickly looked back at the teacher and his new classmate.

"Hi, my name´s Tifa. I´m 16 years old and just came here a week ago. Nice to meet you."

Oh, here voice was so sweet…

"Welcome Tifa. We are about to write a class test today, but since you are new just try to do it so I can see where you might have to catch up with the others."

Tifa smiled and bowed.

"Well then, take a seat, please."

Still smiling, the girl scanned the classroom to see were she could sit, when her eyes met Loz´s. He instantly looked away and blushed, what she found kind of cute and decided to take the empty seat next to him.

Staring down at his pencil, Loz noticed when she sat down and his heard pounded in his chest just like it would after a 4 miles run.

No way he could concentrate on the test…

-------------

"So, how was it?"

Yazoo took his books out of his locker and closed it. Loz shrugged and mumbled something under his breath.

The other hesitated and looked at his brother from under his fringe. "Don´t tell me you messed up. Again."

Loz avoided his gaze and crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"You´re hopeless…" The other sighed in resignation and finished to lock away his belongings.

"Oh yeah? I´ll tell you something mister I-know-everything-"

"Yes?" Yazoo lifted an eyebrow when his soft-headed brother had stopped talking and turned his head up to see what had caused the interruption. There Loz stood, with a finger lifted as if to make his point, but his attention was totally absorbed by something, or rather someone, at the end of the corridor.

Slightly frowning, he followed his brother´s gaze until he saw their new classmate walking towards them. With every step she came closer, Lozs face went a deeper shade of red.

"Oh my god she´s coming here…" Loz whispered breathlessly, suddenly grabbing his younger brothers arm and stepping behind him, as if to hide. So much for the strong, fearless Loz. Knocked out by some hazel eyes.

Yazoo suppressed an annoyed huff and freed his arm from his brother´s rather painful grip, then he crouched down to grab his school bag. Loz really was such a baby…

"Have you seen her gigantic tits?! Gods, what am I about to say to her?" the bulky boy hissed through gritted teeth at his younger brother, hoping Tifa didn´t see him talking.

"Well, what about ´Hi, my name is Loz, what´s yours et cetera, pp.´," came the unenthusiastic reply from below. Where had he just put his new cellphone? Frowning, Yazoo searched through his bag again.

"But I already know her name!"

"At least something you know…"

"What?"

"Nothing. Listen, it doesn´t matter what you say, just do some conversation, ok?" Where was it, damn?!

Loz rubbed his sweating hands and watched the girl coming nearer. Yazoo was no help at all, so he hoped instead of making a complete idiot of himself she would just walk by and ignore his presence, please…

"Hi."

No such luck. She had stopped directly in front of him, gave him the sweetest smile he had ever received from someone and made his perspiratory glands work at full blast.

"H-Hi…" He didn´t know how, but he managed to spit something out that could have been human sounds.

Her smile grew a little wider and she looked openly up to him.

What did Yazoo say? Make conversation… Easy to say for him, who was still busy with something in his bag and not up here and confronted with the biggest breasts on gods planet…

"So…" He cleared his throat and straightened a little. "Wha- What´s you´re name? I´m Tifa."

She stared at him in confusion and he could have smacked himself. "I-I´m sorry, of course I know your name already, how stupid…" He chuckled nervously. "You´re Loz, Right?"

Now she gaped at him open-mouthed and he stared back at her, totally helpless. What was wrong?

He felt incredibly relieved, when the smile found its way back on her face and she finally answered. "Well, nice to meet you Tifa." Now it was at him to gape and he wished the ground would open and eat him.

"Actually I came to give this back to you. I think it belongs to your sister…" She winked at him, still smiling and he scratched his head, laughing nervously. "Sorry."

"Don´t mind. I think it´s cute." Poor Loz became even redder and to distract from his stupidity he kicked his crouched down brother with one leg in the side to get his attention.

"Oi, your presence is demanded."

With a slightly unnerved expression Yazoo gracefully rose from the ground, still looking inside his bag. "What is it? Conversation Loz, just ask her something not too idiotic, it can´t be that hard. And don´t stare at her -what did you call it- 'gigantic tits'…" He looked up and stopped to rummage in his school bag. "Oh. You´re already here."

"Yes." Tifa looked to the ground and now it was her turn to blush.

Yazoo ignored the deathly glare from his older sibling and played down the embarrassing situation by asking nonchalantly. "Well, how can I help you?"

"I found this in the classroom, it must have fallen out of your bag." Without looking at him, she held the cellphone towards the youth who took it. Then she bowed at them and quickly walked away.

Watching her Yazoo put the item into his pocket and stated, "Smart girl."

"Yeah. Thanks for putting her off. You made me look like a complete idiot!" Loz snapped, on the verge of tears and stormed off.

"At least she knows what she´ll have to deal with…" came the murmured reply but it wasn´t heard.

Sighing, Yazoo pushed some hair out of his face and made his way out of the school and after his fuming brother.


	16. Chapter 16

16

When he entered the school yard Yazoo couldn´t find his whining brother anywhere in sight. Not feeling like hearing another round of accusations anyway the middle brother didn´t bother searching for Loz and instead leant next to the pillar of the school entrance. He lazily let his gaze wander over the last few pupils, looking for nothing in particular until two small arms wrapped around his waist from behind. Somewhat startled Yazoo looked down and into the smirking face of his youngest brother.

"You´re early. No more classes today?"

The boy shook his head, still smiling, but it faded when the older one freed himself from the close embrace, looking uncomfortable.

Not knowing what to do with his arms now Kadaj let them hang down his side and looked to the side. The silence between them stretching and nearly becoming unbearable, the youngest searched for a way to start a conversation when he noticed something was missing. Looking up at his brother again, who was still watching him, he asked "Ne, where´s the crybaby?" Not that he missed him or something, he was just… well, trying to start a conversation.

Yazoo´s lips curled up into the faintest of smiles "Crying."

Kadaj´s eyes widened a bit and he snickered into his hand.

After he had calmed down a bit, Yazoo turned away and was about to leave the school yard, saying over his shoulder "We should get going." Then he bent his head towards the little one and added with a small smile "Maybe we can make a short stop to get you some ice cream, hm?"

"That´d be cool!" Kadaj beamed and hurried to gather his belongings from the ground and running after his brother. When was the last time they had had a few minutes for themselves? He couldn´t remember and with the awkward feeling between them gone he would make sure that this rare moment would become a precious one.

-----

When Loz came home and walked into the kitchen he was greeted with a grinning Kadaj, sitting at the big kitchen table, feet swinging and face stuffed with chocolate ice cream. Yazoo was casually leaning against the fridge, doing nothing in particular aside from watching his little brother with a slightly amused expression and acknowledging his older siblings arrival with a quick glance.

Loz felt rather good at the moment and the petty comment from his youngest brother, involving him and not getting any ice cream didn´t do anything to ruin his mood.

"Pff, who cares about ice cream. I´ve got something much better, _you_ won´t ever get, sprog."

Yazoo raised an eyebrow whilst Kadaj licked recuctantly at his precious sweet, disappointed and slightly pouting that his statement had failed to piss the oldest off. After all, what could be better than spending time with Yazoo?!

"Hng, you wouldn´t understand anyway…" Loz said with an air of condescension, falling heavily on one of the kitchen chairs.

"I guess you still managed to 'make conversation'?" Yazoo stated in a slightly mocking tone, smirking a little.

But Loz felt too good to take the bait and instead explained with a proud smile "Yeah, I caught up with her at the backyard and told her that it was just because her breasts confused me. I mean they are really big and round and all…"

Kadaj suddenly didn´t feel like licking at his ice cream anymore and threw the rest of it into the trash, looking disgusted. "Great. You just killed my appetite."

"Shut up brat, I told you you wouldn´t understand." Loz snapped and turned to his other brother, hoping to get more sympathy from this sibling. Yazoo however looked at him somewhat alienated "And after that… she still talked to you?"

"Yeah, of course…" Loz answered, being slightly startled as to why she shouldn´t. "Why wouldn´t she? She said she likes people who are honest."

"I see," Yazoo murmured.

"Well, I guess there´s something true about 'fortune favours fool'…" Kadaj snorted, still looking disgusted.

"Shut up! You´re just jealous," the oldest growled into his direction, ignoring the 'as if' eye-rolling of the brat.

"We talked and took a stroll together and all. I even got her phone number," he stated proudly. Yazoo just raised an eyebrow, though inwardly he agreed with Kadaj and his earlier statement.

"Yeah," Loz elaborated when he didn´t get an answer, leaning further into the chair and bending his knee over his left leg. "And she said she´d eagerly await my call."

Kadaj snorted in disbelief, while Yazoo possessed more sense of tact and just watchd the kitchen tiles, refusing to make any comment on this at all. As long as Loz was happy he didn´t mind him showing off a little…

"Yeah…" Loz continued, now looking somehow uncomfortable. "And she asked for my number, too. So…" he rubbed his hands together and shot his middle brother an apologetical look "Since I don´t have one and I couldn´t bear to put the poor girl down… I gave her yours…" He gave a nervous laugh, watching his brother´s face for any signs of annoyance.

Which he surely got. Looking abruptly up from the floor, a deep scowl graced Yazoo´s fair face. "Loz."

"Yeah, I know, I know. But what should I´ve done, she was on the verge of tears and her boobs are just SO big and…" Loz helplessly gestured with his hands to emphasize just HOW big Tifas breasts were.

Yazoo watched his desperate attempts to make excuses, and finally hmpfed in resignation.

Loz -knowing that the storm was over (luckily before it had even started)- let his hands fall back onto his knee, but dropped his head to show that he still was rueful. But there hadn´t been any other way, and he had known that Yazoo would definitely understand, wouldn´t he?!

"Fine then. It can´t be helped now." Yazoo unfolded his arms which had been crossed over his chest, but was still a little sour. "We´re getting you a phonecard tomorrow and you can relocate your lovetalk to a public phone box."

"´S Okay," Loz hurried to agree. That was better than nothing.

"And tell her to not call me. Got it?" The middle brother was already on his way out of the kitchen and almost smiled at the "Sure thing." from the other. Sometimes Loz was just too obedient… Not so his youngest brother. "Hey, why does _he_ get a phonecard?" Kadaj called out in protest, giving Loz a dead glare.

"You got ice cream, remember?" Yazoo replied and was through the door, but could still hear the dissatisfied murmuring from Kadaj and the not so nice reply from Loz. Sighing he went upstairs and just hoped they didn´t kill each other while he was occupied with HIS business.


	17. Chapter 17

17

Later that evening Sephiroth parked his limousine in front of the mansion and shut the car door with an angry bang.

To say that he was in a foul mood was a blatant understatement.

After dealing with some unworthy, annoying brats who dared to call themselves recruits and some incompetend co-workers he just felt like ripping someone´s head off and spreading their intestines all over the floor.

Fortunately for the kids they were nowhere to be seen when he entered the moonlit, dark entrance hall. At least he didn´t have to deal with THEIR stupidity, although they still seemed to be clever enough to not bother him at a time like this. The general had a short, disinterested look through the kitchen, ignoring the plate of food that was prepared for him and sat on the table. Then he went back to the hall and made his way up the stairs.

He needed something to relax. Hence he stopped in front of his favorite protege´s room and, not bothering to knock, stepped inside uninvited. Not that he needed an invitation anyway. This house and everything within it was his and at his will.

The room was dark, only lit by the moon light which came shining through the high, open windows, a soft breeze moving the curtains lightly. It first seemed to be abandoned, but the general could clearly hear water rushing from the shower next door. Silently he walked through the darkness to the bed and made himself comfortable.

It wasn´t like he was in a hurry. He would get what he wanted soon enough and the longer he waited and withheld himself the more exciting it would get. Watching the bathroom door with slight anticipation and growing impatience Sephiroth wasn´t aware of the small smirk that crept over his lips. Yes, he would make sure he had a good time tonight…

He was thrown out of his musings by a low sound. Looking around the room with narrowed eyes he detected it coming from the boy´s school bag which was neatly placed next to his desk.

With an elegant move the general unwillingly rose from the water bed, crouched down next to the bag and fetched the noisy item with two fingers from between some books. Raising an eyebrow, he looked at the cellphone, which kept ringing in his hand. Expressionless he lifted the receiver, waiting for the caller to speak and he didn´t have to wait for long.

"Hi."

He was greeted by a female voice.

"Erh, this is Tifa. Remember me? We had kind of a date in the backyard today." She gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, uhm… I´m just calling because, well, I wanted to thank you for the nice afternoon and all and I thought maybe we could talk a little bit more about my boobs-" She laughed and continued to say something else.

He never heard the rest of it. Sharply directing his gaze to the bathroom door he shut the phone with a snap, his look making the room temperature drop to zero.

A few minutes later said bathroom door opened and Yazoo entered , one towel wrapped around his slim hip, drying his wet, long hair with another one. If the presence of the general had startled him his face didn´t show it. He gave his father a short nod and a calm "Good evening", then he walked across the room, leaving a wet path on the red carpet and vanishing inside the wardrobe.

Sephiroth watched the boy from his position on the bed, where he had taken a seat again and didn´t look less calm and even relaxed.

"Good evening," he answered in a friendly manner, not taking his eyes off of the boy. "How was school today?" Sepiroth asked with the same amount of interest he always put into the question, which was neither too enthusiastic nor too bored to assume that he wasn´t interested at all.

"Nothing special," came the short reply. Yazoo just wasn´t one for unnecessary words, one reason why the general prefered him over his quarelling and permanently blabbering siblings.

"Is that so?" Sephiroth wondered aloud, pretending that he was busy flicking through a book on the nightstand, which was placed next to the bed.

"Hn." Yazoo had finally found his nightgown, although he was pretty sure he wouldn´t wear it for long.

Fumbling with the upper button of it and momentarily forgetting the general´s presence he came back into the bedroom.

"Then I´m wondering what you consider interesting if not screwing one of your classmate sluts."

That, and the icy tone of Sephiroth´s voice, didn´t fail to get Yazoo´s attention immediately. He stopped messing with his pyjamas and stared back at his foster-father, who was still occupied with the book, but the boy wasn´t fooled by his seeming tediousness.

Sephiroth _never_ spoke in that tone, at least not with him. But he had heard it often enough to know perfectly well what it indicated. Usually that edge crept into the general´s voice before one of his brothers was beaten into a bloody pulp. Frozen to the spot the boy just continued to stare at the man on the bed.

Said man looked up from the lack of an answer, and his cool eyes made chills run down Yazoo´s spine. Still calm, but with an underlaying aura of malice, the general slowly rose from the bed, absently tossing the book away, his moves predatory and sleek.

"Well? Tell me. Because I really am curious about your answer. At least Tifa seemed to have enjoyed herself." He tilted his head interrogatively.

Yazoo´s eyes widened a fraction and he finally let go of his pyjamas.

"I can explain this."

"Of course you can." Sephiroth was a mere inches away from the boy, his voice now as icy as his eyes, betraying the smile he had donned to his beautiful features.

Tilting his head to the side Yazoo kept observing his father, searching for the right words.

"I am listening," the general encouraged, but it came out more like a threat.

"Tifa is a transfer student who happened to become our new classmate. Loz met her earlier today and they got along quite well, I think."

"Really."The general absently eyed his fingernails. It was impossible to tell if he believed or even had listened to his protege´s explanation. Eventually he rather lazily raised his gaze, pinning the boy with his piercing stare. Sephiroths face didn´t betray any sign of wether he was pleased or satisfied by the boy´s answer as he stood looming over Yazoo, his expression utterly unreadable.

The intimidating and minatory aura radiating from the impressive figure that was the general was only further intensified by the pale moonlight, which cast sharp shadows over the man´s face, letting his eyes glow in the darkness like that of a wild beasts.

Becoming more and more uncomfortable, Yazoo made another attempt to convince his foster-father of his innocence. "See, I had absolutely nothing to do with th-".

He didn´t come any further, because Sephiroth had already thrown his fist into the boy´s stomach. Calmly he watched the boy doubling over, gasping and trying to catch his breath. Kneeling on the ground he clutched his abdomen and tried to not black out from the pain.

"You know, that is not nice, blaming your own brother for the mistakes you made."

Yazoo barely heard the nearly bored statement as Sephiroth gripped him by the hair and with little effort dragged his foster-child bhind him towards the bed in no hurry.

"Have I not treated you kindly? Have I not been considerable?"

Speaking more to himself, he flung the boy face first into the matress. There was an insane edge in his voice, one that made clear that he wasn´t amenable for arguments or logical reasoning. Though even if he had been able to, Yazoo had enough to do to breath through the cushions over his mouth and with his struggling to get away from Sephiroth´s iron grip.

Easily the general just pinned his arm on his back, causing the boy to gasp in pain.

"I guess I have spoiled you just a little too much. I´ll show you what it means to belie me. Time to learn some manners, _Yazoo._"

The words were hissed into his ear with such rage that the silver haired boy stopped squirming and dared to look at his tormentor from out of the corner of his eye. The normally collected and beautiful face of his father was now a mask of sheer anger, but there was also a strange excitement. Seeing Yazoo´s widened eyes Sephiroth´s lips curled up into a mad, vicious smile. "I see you begin to understand. Good boy."

And then Yazoo knew no more.


	18. Chapter 18

18

He was woken from of a dreamless, deep slumber by his ringing cell. Dizzily he grabbed for the item, smashing his full water glass down in the process, until he finally got the damn and still ringing thing. Cursing and pulling his long, ebony hair out of his tired face Tseng shot a look at his watch, condemning the person who had the nerve to call him at 3.17 am in the fucking night. Normally he was a rather patient and composed person, but everyone, even Tseng, had his breaking points, hence he answered the phone with a not so nice "What the hell!"

His anger was immediately gone when he was answered with heavy, uncontrolled sobs.

"Hello? Who is this? Loz?" He knew this voice too well, had heard it after almost every math test when the big bulky boy had wiped his puffy eyes and had handed him a nearly empty paper. But this time it wasn´t just his normal whining.

"Loz, what is it? Are you alright?"

"This is Loz *sob* I´m *sob* sorry to *sob* wake you…" Obviously the boy had a hard time to articulate himself.

"It´s all right Loz, calm down. I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to sound rude. Tell me what happened."

There were some more sobs until Loz tried again.

"It´s… Something bad happened, I don´t know what to do…"

And then he lost it.

"He´s gone insane, I mean more than normal, first I didn´t even notice and then he… he… gods Yazoo…*sob*. You have to come before he comes back, he´s killing him, I don´t know if he´s alive by now, you must come and save him-" The boy´s voice was shaken with hystery. Tseng´s blood ran cold.

"Calm down Loz, calm down. I´m coming. Just stay where you are!"

Hastily he got out the bed and reached for the car keys, not bothering to change his pyjamas or even taking the time to put on his shoes. Cold sweat had built on his forehead when he rushed down the stairs and to his car. He needed at least tree attempts to start the engine and had to force himself to calm down before he finally got it.

What the hell was going on ?!

With Loz still weeping on the phone he managed to get the boy´s address out of him. Fortunately the streets were empty so he didn´t have to care for speed limits.

All the way to the mansion Tseng tried to get some more information out of his desperate student, which turned out to be a futile task since Loz couldn´t get a full sentence together and only encouraged the teacher to push the gas.

There was a feeling deep down in his guts, a feeling that something tremendous had happen and he didn´t know if he would be able to handle it.

Eventually he arrived at the castle-like mansion. Killing the engine he exited the car and ran towards the open fences.

He was welcomed by the shivering wrack that had once been Loz and who nearly fainted in relief when he recogniced his saviour, totally ignoring the man´s attire and lack of shoes.

"Loz, where is he?"

Tseng shook the boy´s shoulders to interrupt his babbling. From what he had understood something was wrong with Yazoo and if it was serious they may had to go to a hospital and there was no time to waste.

"You´ve come! You won´t let him hurt him, no? Oh gods, we´re safe!"

"No, Loz I won´t let him hurt you. Now tell me where your brother is." Tseng forced himself to calm down and take a deep breath.

"He´s upstairs, I and Kadaj hide, I told Kadaj to stay in our room, I thought it was safer there and he wouldn´t come down!" Loz had a nearly proud look on his face that changed back to fearful the next second.

"We have to hurry before HE comes back, I don´t know where he is right now, but if he finds us here he´ll kill us all, even you!"

"He… is your father?"

"He ´s NOT our father!" Loz growled.

"Okay, Loz. You did a great job. Now go get Kadaj and wait in my car." Tseng handed him his keys and the boy hastily vanished inside the house, screaming for Kadaj.

Tseng wiped away some sweat from his eyes and followed.

He headed for the broad stairs, absently noticing how big, expensive and CLEAN the mansion was, but mainly searching for the room Loz had told him Yazoo was in. Mentally cursing himself for not asking for more details he stopped at the end of the stairs. It was nearly pitch black up here, but he had no time to search for light.

There was only one open door anyway and so Tseng made a beeline for it, hoping the owner of the house was absent. Even if he didn´t believe Loz´ 'father' would kill him, he hadn´t much intention to meet him. At least not now.

When he reached his destination he slowed down without noticing.

Pushing the heavy wooden doors open, he searched through the room with vivid eyes. The moon was hidden behind dark clouds which made it too dark to see anything other than black shemes. With slightly trembling fingers he searched for the switch. The light turned on and he had to cover his eyes for a moment. When they had adjusted he wished he had left them shielded.

The room was large. It was dominated by an overdimensional bed. And in this bed was a small figure with silver hair. Naked. And bleeding.

Wide eyed, Tseng -due to his shock slower than was appropriate- strode to the bed.

Yazoo had curled into a ball, or at least he had tried. His body was covered with fresh wounds, deep cuts and bruises, building a stark contrast to his pale skin. Thin trails of dark, red blood ran down his legs, soaking the white sheets. There was so much blood!

"Yazoo…" His voice came out in a rasp.

He got no reaction, only one empty eye stared straight through him from under the curtain of silver hair that covered the boy´s face.

"Yazoo, what happened here…"

But Tseng didn´t need an answer, did he? It was very much obvious what had happened here. The eye just stared into nothingness, not acknowledging his presence.

Wetting his lips Tseng pulled himself together, telling himself that there was no time to be shocked.

He had to do something. Carefully he leaned over the still figure on the bed, wrapping one arm around his shoulders, one under his knees and gathering the boy into his arms, half expecting him to struggle, but he didn´t move at all. With a grim look on his face Tseng made his way down the stairs, nearly hoping for this 'father' to come back, so he could teach him a lesson about what _real_ pain felt like.

Before he left the mansion he grabbed a wollen fabric from one of the sofas to cover Yazoo´s abused body as much as he could.

Loz and Kadaj already sat in the car, impatientky waiting for Tsengs arrival. Avoiding any rough contact, as Yazoo was in enough agony right now, he arranged him in the front seat and with a shaking sigh started the car a few moments later after he had wiped the blood on his hands on his pyjamas.

"You know, this time you´ll get it. He´ll kill you for sure."

This almost triumphant whisper made the teacher risk a look into the back mirror. Kadaj was sitting behind him -and as far way from his still crying brother as possible- arms crossed over his chest, scowling.

"Shut the fuck up, brat!" came the enraged reply.

Gods, these kids had been living far too long under this roof…

Tseng pressed his lips together and drove a little faster.

"What´s with Yazoo?" This time Kadaj addressed him, sounding slightly worried.

"He…" Tseng paused. How should he explain to a nine year old that his foster father had raped his brother nearly to dead?! "He is ill."

"Oh."

There was silence for a few minutes, only interrupted now and then by Loz´ sniffles, until Kadaj´s voice filled the car again.

"Where are we driving?"

"Hospital."

"NO!"

The sudden outburst almost caused Tseng to make a full break, the car dangerously close to break away and he cringed. The two boys stared at him in bewilderment as if he had gone completely nuts.

"Your brother needs medical treatment!"

"No! No hospital! He wouldn´t want it," Kadaj snarled, matter-of-factly, sending a dead glare at the teacher.

"Kids, I know you are worried and all, but we have to be rational now…" Tseng tried to reason with them.

"Stop the car."

"Loz…"

".Car."

Loz´s voice was suddenly low. There was no crying and wailing anylonger. Instead he sounded very serious and somehow… very deadly. Even at his young age he had built up some respectable muscles and Tseng wasn´t so sure he would win a fight. Especially when driving and when Loz was in an overprotective mood and willing to safe his brother from whatever he thought was a threat…

"Fine, alright. We are not driving to a hospital. But if he dies you are responsible for his death."

Actually Tseng had hoped this would let them come back to their senses again. Unfortunately, the boys remained stubborn.

With satisfied expressions the brothers leaned back and relaxed.

"He won´t die. He´s stronger than he looks." Kadaj informed the man proudly and somehow, as absurd as it was, Tseng suspected that he was right. With a shake of the head he drove the car through the night towards his apartment.


	19. Chapter 19

19

Since there was no other option he took them to his apartement. After ordering Loz and Kadaj to go ahead and make themselves at home he gathered the still apathetic Yazoo and followed slowly behind. It wasn´t necessary that they saw their brother in this condition…

Closing the door behind him he was welcomed by the arguing voices of the other two. Tseng decided that they were fine as long as they were able to fight and that his priority had to be his messed up student.

With his left elbow he opened the bathroom door and hit the switch, then he carefully laid the boy into the bathtub. Since he was still wrapped in the wollen cloth, which had changed from formerly white to a rusty brown where the blood from the boy´s body had dried, Tseng had to remove it, averting his eyes from the abused body as much as he could, a deep frown clouding his face.

Yazoo however didn´t seem to notice what was going on around him, he just lay lifelessly in the cold bathtub. If Tseng hadn´t checked his pulse only a few moments ago he could have missed the body for that of a corpse.

SighingTseng rolled up his sleeves and held one hand under the tab to check if the water was warm enough. When it had the right temperatur the teacher slowly carried the shower head over the abused body, making sure to wash all the blood away. The boy didn´t even flinch when the hot liquid rushed into his fresh, open wounds.

Carefully Tseng lifted his arms to clean him up entirely, noticing more bruises and scratches.

Absent-mindedly he heard Kadaj throwing a fit in his living room and Loz laughing smugly. He didn´t get what they were on about, but he didn´t really care anyways. Right now his top priority was Yazoo. Though there had been a lot of blood, and some still oozed out from some wounds, mixing with the water and running down the boy´s body, it didn´t seem to be life threatening. In fact it had looked much worse than it actually was, at least where physical damage was concerned. To his relief there were no broken bones, at least none that were visible.

Tseng wasn´t sure how to proceed with the wounds on his students lower parts, he didn´t want to unnecessarily scare him by touching him anywhere within that region. He decided that it had to be enough to just clean him with the running water.

Eventually he finished his task and put the shower head away.

Reaching into the cupboard under his sink he pulled out a big blue towel. He put it over the boys body and took him out of the tub, wrapping him into the cloth in the process. The teacher sat down on the edge of the tub and started to dry the teen, avoiding to touch the wounds as much as he could.

With one tip of the towel he finally stroked over his face, which had been fortunate enough to not meet the destiny of the rest of his body. Although there were no cuts or bruises, Tseng found it especially hard to deal with this part. Some of Yazoo´s wet silver hair stuck to his cheek and the teacher wiped it out of his face, casting another look at the boy´s eyes.

His pupils appeared unnaturally wide, so that his green iris only consisted of thin lines around two black holes. But deep within that darkness there seemed to be… something.

Tseng couldn´t quite catch it through the half closed lids but it was definitly there. Quietly the teacher asked "Yazoo?" but the boy didn´t answer nor show any sign that he had heard him. Tseng breathed an almost desperate sigh.

But then he wouldn´t have known what to say anyway. He guessed there wasn´t a script for this kind of situations, so he just squeezed the boy´s shoulders lightly and decided to let it stay at that for the time being. He felt like there wasn´t much he could do. Thus Tseng stood up again and carried the boy out of the bathroom.

When they entered the living room Loz and Kadaj finally stopped fighting and silently watched the man vanishing in his bedroom. Both of them looked rather worried, but kept quiet for the moment, for which Tseng was thankful. He closed the door behind him and placed Yazoo onto his dishevelled bed. Not having expected to host guests tonight, or any time soon for that matter, it was the only option he could think of for now.

Carefully the dark haired man put the blanket over the bruised body and knelt down next to the bed for a moment, observing the rise and fall Yazoo´s chest. The boy looked somewhat lost and fragile between the white sheeds and the moonlight made him look even paler than he already was. Tseng stroked away another strand of silver hair out of a blank face and murmured "Try to sleep a little. I´m in the room next door should you need anything."

He didn´t get an answer, but hadn´t really expected one. Still he felt like a sudden weight had befallen his chest and he added a very quiet "I´m sorry." before he left the room and it´s occupant.

Closing the door he leaned against it for a second, pinching the bridge of his nose. Then he tiredly strode over to the sofa where Loz and Kadaj had decided to take a seat and have a ceasefire for once and fell heavily onto it.

The boys looked at each other, unsure what to do, and decided to waited for their teacher to speak. Minutes passed by, with neither of them opneing their mouths. The only sound that interrupted the otherwise perfect silence was the ticking of the clock, hanging over their heads.

Kadaj, never one to be patient, couldn´t bare the silence anylonger. "Nee, he´s okay?"

Tseng looked up from his hands, finally acknowledging the boys presence and giving a slight nod. Although in his opinion there was no use in worrying them more than they already were, he still had to know what had happened. Not that he was too anxious to hear about the details, he already had enough for one night. But now wasn´t the time to consider his own well being. He needed Loz to tell him. But he didn´t want to scare Kadaj either. The boy surely didn´t need to know the nasty details. Therefore Tseng forced a smile on his face and turned to the smallest person of the group.

"Kadaj, I´m sure you´re cold. Won´t you make us some tea?" The boy looked uncertain, but then nodded and scuffled into the kitchen. When he was out of sight and earshot, Tseng leaned over to Loz, who looked rather uncomfortable but against an inner urge didn´t back away.

"I know this is not easy for you, trust me, I wouldn´t ask you if we could avoid it. But I need to know what happened tonight. Okay?"

Loz gulped, looked to the side, but nodded nonetheless. After a short pause he started in a hoarse whisper:

"I´m not so… sure either. I just… First it was just like always, he… I mean… our foster father…" -he said this with obvious disstress- "He was in a bad mood, but nothing too out of the ordinary. He´s always like this, best not to get in his way then. But we can tell by the way how he drives into the garage, so we knew to not met him and went into the cellar, just like always."

Tseng just nodded with his lips pressed into a thin line, encouraging the boy to continue.

"I guess he went straight into Yazoo´s room. He always does when he´s… like this." Loz paused again and stared at his trembling hands.

"What happened then?" Tseng asked, with one ear assuring himself that Kadaj was still busy in the kitchen.

"He… normally he would do just…you know…?" Helplessly Loz gazed at the teacher without facing him directly and Tseng just nodded. There was no need to force the boy to verbalize what he thought happened to his brother. "But today was different…"

The big boy´s voice faded away and he stared back at the carpet again.

"What was it?" Tseng hated to force the boy, but it couldn´t be helped. Loz shrugged in a somewhat tired manner.

"I don´t know how to explain… I…I could just feel it. Yazoo…he felt …_intensive_…" he paused again and Tseng narrowed his eyes, not sure if he understood what the other was talking about, but Loz explained shortly after. "I don´t know how to describe it… It´s like… a bond we share. Sometimes I just feel when something is… wrong with him..." Tseng nodded, encouraging again.

"When I felt it, it was like someone had pitched ice water over my head… So… I just told Kadaj to hide under the bed and ran upstairs, I mean I didn´t even think about it, I just ran and then…I-I nearly crashed the door open but _he_ was already gone and… Ya-Yazoo… goods, he felt _so cold!_"

Loz clutched his left chest and his voice broke. Apparently he had to struggle very hard to keep his countenance. After a heart wrenching sob he continued again.

"I just saw the blood and remembered your number. I didn´t know who else to call," he added shyly, but the teacher had laid a reassuring hand on the boy´s arm and said "You did very well to call me." Loz simply nodded, a tear rolling down his cheek. They were quiet for a while with only the sound of boiling water from the kitchen filling the apartment. Tseng had balled his hands into fists and glared at nothing in particular in the dark living room. Loz had nearly vanished in the arm chair next to him, but suddenly shook his head and put the teacher out of his brooding.

"I didn´t think he would ever do something like this. At least… not to him…" Tseng gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean, not to him?"

Shaking his head a little the short haired boy explained "I mean, he´s… kind of… short tempered… when it comes to Kadaj and I. Especially Kadaj. Though the brat´s pushing it quite often. At least at the beginning…" For a moment he looked a bit angry. "But he´s never… touching us. Just beating."

Tseng felt the overwelming need to just rip this person who dared to call himself a father into two pieces and was glad for the darkness, so the boy couldn´t see his homicidal expression.

Just beating, eh?

"For Yazoo…" Loz continued. "Actually he´s never mad at _him_. I mean he´s always really nice and stuff, always bringing something along for him and privileging him. I´d never thought he´d… do something like this…"

"Do you have any idea what could have been the reason for.. this?" the black haired man carefully inquired, but Loz just shook his head. Before Tseng got another chance to ask further questions, Kadaj entered the room, balancing a tablet with three steaming cups of tea in his small hands. He put the tray on the glass table and gibed with a glance at his brother, "Oi, crying again?"

His smirk disappeared when he noticed the sad and tired faces of the two men in front of him and bit his lip. Quietly he grabbed his cup and sipped at his tea. Then, just like nothing had happened at all, he exclaimed "I only found green tea."

Taking his own cup, Tseng smiled at the boy and assured him that it was okay and that his tea was very good. The boy just nodded and remained silent. Loz´cup was left untouched. After a minute of silence, Tseng finally spoke up again.

"I guess whe had enough action for tonight. You must be tired. I´ll find you something to sleep on and we can talk about what happened tomorrow, mh?" Both boys looked relieved and when Tseng had managed to find a place for them to sleep they were already fighting again about who had to sleep where. And though he felt drained like never before in his life, Tseng didn´t find any sleep that night.


	20. Chapter 20

20

The next morning Tseng woke up early, or at least it was early for a Sunday. He walked past the two boys on the floor, residing there with their legs and arms interwined and both seemingly blessed with a rather deep sleep, for which the teacher envied them a bit. Without waking them he entered the kitchen and began to make some coffee.

While he was waiting for the water to run through the filter paper he watched the sun slowly making its way over the horizon. It promised to be a warm day, the first birds started to chirp in the trees outside and a mellow orange light engulfed the room.

Tseng turned away from the window and sat down at the table. He had thought it over again and again but still couldn´t quite comprehend what had happened the night before.

It still felt like a bad dream, but Loz´s snoring noises from the living room just reminded him HOW real it had been. And one thing was for sure: he couldn´t let the boys go back to that 'father'. But other than that the black haired man felt uncertain of what to do. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he got himself a big cup of too hot coffee and swallowed it almost with one gulp. He nearly welcomed the hot, burning sensation in his mouth, it woke him up at least. Rubbing his tired eyes and pondering at how to proceed he failed to notice the small figure that plodded into the kitchen, jawning and still looking a bit drowsy.

"Morning," Kadaj mumbled and took a seat next to the teacher. The man looked up from his pot in surprise, but caught himself immediately.

"Good morning," he answered kindly and offered the kid a cup of coffee. Kadaj wrapped his little hands around the hot item and swang a little with his feet, apparently not really awake yet. Absently he sipped at the coffee, but instantly grimaced and complained.

"Urgh, that´s disgusting."

Tseng couldn´t help a small smile when he saw the boy´s distorted face and rose up to make some tea. Meanwhile the boy had laid his head on the table and watched the man rummaging in the cupboards through his silver bangs.

"Hey, you are the one who talked to Yazzy because of my homework, aren´t you?"

Tseng tilted his head and glanced at the boy from out of the corner of his eye and remembered that until now they hadn´t talked that much. Apart from the incident at the schoolyard, which the boy had fled. "You are right. My name is Tseng."

"Hi Mr. Tseng. I´m Kadaj."

„Well, nice to meet you Kadaj."

"Hm." The boy nodded in agreement and Tseng continued to make the tea. The sun had become rather warm and lit the kitchen now fully.

"See, I was right, wasn´t I?"

This time the teacher didn´t turn around, but spilled some of the tea leaves he was preparing. Being taken aback by the sudden question he was frozen to the spot for a moment, but regained his composure rather fast. "It seems like it, yes."

"Hm," the boy made again, watching the man´s back closely.

"Sooo…what´s going to happen to us now?"

Lacking for a satisfying answer, Tseng instead put the finished, steaming tea in front of the boy, avoiding his gaze. Staring at the cup and then back at the teacher, Kadaj´s eyes narrowed. "You are not going to bring us back, are you?"

Seeing the suspicious look on the boy´s face Tseng hurried to assure him that this wasn´t his intention at all. But he was right, they had to think up something.

"You´ll stay here for now," he decided after a short pause and Kadaj seemed to be satisfied, finally drinking the offered tea.

"I´ll make you something to eat and we´ll have to see how your brother is doing. We might need to go to a hospital…" Tseng repressed an excruciated sigh when he noticed the boy´s ornery look.

"I told you he doesn´t need that," Kadaj claimed again over his tea cup in a voice that didn´t tolerate any arguing. Tseng surpressed another sigh and instead murmured a "We´ll see."

To distract the boy from this obviously sensitive topic, Tseng sent him for a shower and to brush his teeth. Kadaj didn´t apply too enthusiastically, but slipped from his chair to do what he was told to nevertheless. From the living room Tseng could hear an annoyed grunt and a petty Kadaj, telling his brother that he was SO sorry for tripping over him. Shaking his head, the teacher sipped at his coffee again. This was definitely going to be a challenge.

After he had finished he left the empty cup in the sink. Before making his way to the bedroom, he told Loz that he could help himself with some coffee in the kitchen and was answered with another muffled grunt.

Rapping at the bedroom door, Tseng waited for a reply and entered after he didn´t receive a response.

Yazoo hadn´t moved from the position Tseng had left him in a few hours earlier. The only difference was that he seemed to be asleep this time, since his eyes were closed. Taking two soundless strides, Tseng was next to the bed and carefully lifted the blanket from the boy´s chest just to see if he might need medical treatment. To his exorbitant astonishment there were nearly no traces on the youth´s body left that indicated what had happened the night before. Staring at the unblemished, smooth chest rising and falling with his steady breathing the teacher couldn´t believe his own eyes.

Hadn´t the memories of the abused body been so fresh and burnt into his mind like acid he wouldn´t have been sure if anything had happened at all!

Though, when he had a closer look, he could make out some fine red lines here and there, where just some hours ago had been deep scratches and cuts.

What was it with these kids?! If they were all three like this it was no wonder no one had ever noticed that they were lambasted every once in a while.

Still amazed by Yazoos healing ability he let the blanket fall back and decided that a visit at the hospital wasn´t that urgent.

Since Yazoo hadn´t awoken by now Tseng decided to let him sleep for another hour or so, when the boy made the slightest movement and began to wake up. Although the light seemed to hurt him, his student forced his eyes open. From where he stood, Tseng had a good look at Yazoo´s slitted pupils, another mystery the boys shared and which he didn´t understand.

After the youth had adjusted to the brightness he became aware of the unfamiliar room and looked even more confused when he spotted his math teacher. He tried to sit upright in the bed, causing the blanket to slip from his slim shoulders, but the sudden move seemed to make him dizzy as he sank back into the pillows. Still, his bemused eyes were glued to the teacher.

"Good morning," Tseng tried in a friendly manner.

"What am I doing here?" came the prompt reply, and it wasn´t only confussion swinging within, but also distrust and slight annoyance.

For a moment Tseng hesitated, arguing with himself if he should remind the boy of the nightly events or spare him.

But Yazoo didn´t notice the lack of an answer, he had lowered his head and rubbed his right temple with two fingers. His eyes were closed again and he frowned slightly.

"Are you okay?" Tseng stepped forward, just in case the boy needed help, but Yazoo just stated dismissively that he was fine.

Before he could say anything else the door swang open and a shadow rushed passed Tseng, shoving him aside and attacking the occupant of the bed.

"Yazzy! Are you okay? I was so worried about you last night, with all the commotion! You´re not hurt, are you? Mr. Tseng wanted to take you to a hospital and all, but I said you didn´t need one because it wasn´t that bad and I was right, wasn´t I? Though we thought we might have to bring you somewhere save, so _he_ wouldn´t hurt you more…"

Yazoo held his overexcited, exuberant little brother at one arms length away from him, still failing to realize what was going on, when the second brother entered and headed for the bed as well.

"You´re finally awake! You know you scared the shit out of me last night!" Loz half complained, half cried. Meanwhile Yazoo had managed to make it into a sitting position and looked alternately from one brother to the other to understand what they were trying to tell him both at the same time. Kadaj and Loz were relieved and excited and struggled to get their brothers attention first, but Yazoo didn´t look so elated.

Never straying his eyes from his teacher, he asked with little hidden disapproval:

"Why did you bring me here?"

Kadaj and Loz both fell silent and looked at each other uncomfortably until Kadaj pointed with his index finger at Loz and stated "His idea. I didn´t do anything."

Loz growled at his little brother, but averted his eyes under his middle brother´s piercing glare and shifted nervously, murmuring something under his breath.

Yazoo closed his eyes for a moment, then he looked back at the teacher, who had observed the boys from the door in silence until now.

"I apologize for my brothers inepted behaviour," he said submissively and lowered his head.

"Although I appreciate their concern for me, it seems that they have gone a bit too far this time. We sure have bothered you enough. I´m fine now and we will be gone in a few minutes." Adding an assuring smile to his little speech, Yazoo was about to leave the bed and obviously thought the matter was settled.

Tseng watched with a blank expression as the middle brother gracefully gathering the blanket around his waist, since he was still naked, and the other two boys looking at each other with troubled expressions. A few seconds passed until Tseng finally spoke.

"No."

Stopping with what he was doing Yazoo looked back at his teacher and tilted his head in question.

"Excuse me?"

"You are not going back."

The smile on the boy´s face seemed to falter for a second, but then he was back to being self-confident again.

"But we've already imposed too much on your generosity. Besides, I really don´t think that it is for you to decide whether we are going home or not," he pointed out friendly, but with an underlaying threatening tone.

"And I think otherwise. You are staying here," Tseng decided, unyielding.

Kadaj and Loz looked from their brother to their teacher and back again, observing the silent battle of wills. Though they were without a doubt loyal to Yazoo, this time both of them hoped for the teacher to take the victory. Neither of them was eager to face their insane foster father again.

Yazoo on the other hand didn´t give up that easily. Narrowing his eyes and not smiling anymore he answered. "You should be aware of the fact that you are exceeding your authorities by far."

"Maybe. But as I see it you are not in a condition to decide what is best for you and your brothers right now and since I am your teacher I am also responsible for your well-being."

"I´m fine." Yazoo alleged coldly.

"Really? Last night that didn´t seem to be the case," Tseng retorted somewhat dryly.

The boy was quiet for a moment, observing his uncooperative teacher with slitted pupils. Eventually he said with a blank face:

"What you are doing is kidnapping."

"Then tell me what it is your _father_ is doing to you. You prefer that treatment?"

Tseng didn´t fail to notice the boy´s flinching and the cold glare he received, but he wasn´t going to back down. No matter the costs, he would definitely not let them go back to that household.

Tseng couldn´t help his grim and determined expression. He was furious about the boys so called father, of course, but partially he was also frustrated with Yazoo´s reluctance to let him and his brothers be helped. But this time he got some unexpected support.

Kadaj had taken Yazoo´s hand into his own and pleaded "He´s going to help us, he promised, right?" He glanced at the teacher, who nodded reassuringly.

"See? We don´t need to go back, we can stay here."

Loz looked hopeful too and bobbed his head enthusiastically, though it didn´t do much to convince his brother, who still sat stiffly on the bed, head tilted in an arrogating manner.

"He can help," Loz tried again.

"There wouldn´t be a need for 'help' if you hadn´t messed up, dear _brother_."

Loz jerked at the icy statement and didn´t look so confident anymore.

"What.. do you mean?" he asked hesitantly.

"Tifa called. At a very inconvenient time."

Loz suddenly went morbidly pale and his eyes widened unnaturally. Tseng didn´t know what was going on, but decided that this was something at least Kadaj didn´t need to hear, so he interrupted the two of them.

"Why don´t you discuss this while Kadaj and I make breakfast? I´m sure you're hungry." With that he held his hand out for Kadaj, who wasn´t too happy to leave the scene when it was getting interesting. After all, Loz was in deep shit, so to say, and he really didn´t want to miss it.

To his dismay this time Yazoo agreed with his teacher and ordered his youngest brother with a light nod of his head to follow Tseng into the kitchen. After they had left the room, Loz finally had gathered enough courage to look up and stammer an excuse, which was rewarded with silence.

"So that´s why… he did this to you? Because Tifa called you?"

Yazoo remained silent, looking somewhat tired now. He leaned his head back on the wall and stared at the blanket with half-lidded eyes.

Biting his lip, Loz tried to think, tried really hard and scratched his head.

"Why… don´t we stay here for a while. Just until… it´s over and done with?"

"And when do you think this will be?" came the sardonic reply.

"Dunno." Loz admitted sheepishly. "I… that´s just what I thought…"

"Oh please. Spare me with your 'thoughts'. Apparently they are only leading into pandemonium."

Cringing at the dig at his last idea -namely giving Tifa Yazoo´s phone number- Loz was on the verge of tears, sniffing and wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

"Not crying again, are you? That´s all you can ever do..." the other spat, eyeing his brother with an icy look. "Funny, since I´m the one who should be crying for being burdened with someone as braindead as you." Yazoo apparently seemed to have fun rubbing salt into his brother´s wounds, who indeed was crying now.

Noticing the thick drops falling onto the blanket, the other boy turned away in disgust and snorted "Hn. You´re so pathetic."

Loz only trembled harder, though this time not out of grief but upcoming anger. "Say that again."

Yazoo looked back at him with an arched eyebrow and a wicked smirk tugging at the corner of his lips "Oh? Becoming couragous now, are we?"

"Do you even hear yourself talking?" Loz´ voice, shaking and low at the beginning, became stronger, louder and aggressive.

"I said I´m sorry. I know that there´s no excuse for what I´ve done. Still! You´re calling me pathetic and weak, but you´re not better either! You keep hiding and pretending that nothing´s happening. Nice thing for you to do, since you´re the one who´s getting all the privileges. You don´t have to live in a cellar hole, you don´t have to eat the left overs, you don´t get beaten up every fucking night! You think you´re the only one who´s suffering? Do you ever think about how Kadaj or I might feel?"

Yazoo mouth dropped slightly open as he was petrified by his brother´s unusual behaviour, albeit he caught himself rather fast. His gaze went cold and remained undeterred, although all base amusement was gone now.

"That´s enough. I don´t have to listen to this."

He moved to majestically rise from the bed, but his arm was seized in a firm grip and he was forced to sit back.

"I´m not done, _brother_." Watching Loz´ fingers painfully digging into his flesh in disbelief, Yazoo stopped his attempts to leave the room and his furious brother, but glared back at him with no less ire. How _dare_ Loz touching and hurting him!

"What are you going to do? Beat me?" Upon hearing the derisive tone, Loz let go as if he had burnt himself.

"Thought so." Yazoo smirked, eyes narrowed slightly in victory. He was about to stand up, when Loz spoke up again, this time uncharacteristically calm and bitter.

"No. I´m not going to beat you. You know what? Just go back. Go back to him, be his fuck toy and pretend that nothing´s happening. I don´t care anymore." He let out a shaking breath and looked down at his big, rough hands.

"I thought we were brothers and I _really_ thought we would face everything together as brothers, no matter what. But that thing in front of me isn´t my brother. My brother would never EVER do this to Kadaj or I. My brother would never say such things to me. You know how you sound? You sound so much like the general that I hardly can tell the difference! Just go back then. Maybe you deserve one another. But I and Kadaj are staying here."

One single tear was rolling down the young man´s cheek, but his gaze was steady und clear.

Having nothing more to say, he stood from the bed and left the room without a last glance back.


	21. Chapter 21

21

Yazoo blinked once, twice, until he finally processed what had happened just now. And then his silver brows knitted into an angry frown, lips pursed into a pout.

Who did the crybaby think he was?! How _dare_ he talk to him like this?!

But why did he care, anyway?

If Loz thought he had to be bitchy, then so be it, because Yazoo didn´t care!

He didn´t need this whiny little baby to be tied to his apron strings! Grabbing the blanket the silver haired youth was about to finally get out of the bed with his head held high and leave this farce when a burning pain between his legs made him fall back onto the mattress and hiss into the pillow.

Apparently not all of his wounds had healed completely…

Being distracted by his anguish he didn´t notice the door opening and Kadaj entering the bedroom. The boy had only heard the last few words of his brothers fight but it was enough to scare him to no end. Normally his brothers never fought that bad!

Silently he made his way to the bed, where Yazoo was still dealing with the pain and the totally unjustified accusations of his stupid brother and sat beside him. Not knowing what else to do to console his beloved brother, Kadaj stroked with one hand through his long silver tresses and quietly said. "Don´t listen to him. I´m not leaving you."

Yazoo glanced up at him through his hair and asked when the pain had subsided. "Do I sound like him?"

"Of course not!" Kadaj hurried to assure him, but added quietly after a few seconds "Most of the time."

"I´m a bad brother, am I not?" It sounded somewhat resigned and defeated.

"No." Kadaj leaned over and planted a light kiss where he assumed Yazoo´s forehead was.

They were silent for a while, and Yazoo calmed down. He could hear Loz´ sobs in the living room and his feeling told him that Loz had absolutely no intention to leave him behind, even though he had declared so. But he had been so very angry and totally different from his normal self, a fact that could not be dismissed easily.

Something had changed their relationship. Loz was growing up, and Yazoo wasn´t sure how to deal with _that_.

"You don't want to go back, do you?" The question was barely audible and Kadaj looked to the ground. Avoiding to answer his brother directly, he instead responded "I want us to be happy…"

There was a long pause in which the youngest continued to stroke his brother´s silky, long hair. Tseng stood behind the door, with his eyes watching the crying Loz who had curled into a ball on the couch, silently sobbing into a pillow, and with his ears eagerly awaiting a reply from Yazoo. The breakefast stood forgotten on the table, coffee now cold.

Although a rejection wouldn´t change Tsengs mind to keep the boys with him he thought that it was a very important step for Yazoo to finally acknowledge help for his own sake.

When his student finally announced "Fine then. We are staying for now." Tseng let out a breath he hadn´t noticed he had been holding.


	22. Chapter 22

22

Since Yazoo couldn´t get out of bed and had politely asked for some privacy, Kadaj had brought him his breakfast and had left him alone.

Now the three of them sat back at the kitchen table, Loz with still red eyes, but otherwise the boys seemed to be in high spirits and possessed a rather healthy appetite. Tseng made a mental note that he had to go to the supermarket soon, watching the big boy plundering his fridge (who hadn´t been stuffed with food for four to begin with… Now it was nearly empty, apart from a single edge of cheese and a half empty water bottle).

When they had finished, Kadaj started to wash the dishes although Tseng hadn´t asked for that, but he didn´t complain either as the boy had said he didn´t mind doing it. Since the kitchen was only designed for one person he and Loz had to leave to not stand in Kadaj´s way, and the bigger boy went straight to the bathroom for a hot shower. That made the only place left for Tseng the living room, where he tiredly sat down on the couch and stared out of the window. He noticed absent-mindedly that he could desperately need a shower himself. His feet were a lovely brown mess of dried, crusted mud and his pyjamas weren´t in a much better condition either…

Stroking with one hand through his black hair he frowned when he felt some big, nasty knots, but he could deal with that later.

First he had to put up a plan. Being the rational person he was, Tseng first organized the events and from this point on started to think up a solution.

The boys were with him for now and therefore save. He was rather confident that they wouldn´t try to sneak out. Yazoo might be confused and not entirely happy with the situation as it was, but he wasn´t one for childish actions.

Still, keeping them in his two-room apartment was only a suboptimal and momentary solution. He had to find another place for them and coming to think of this the only other place that came to mind were the school dorms. They had always one or two spare rooms for emergencies and if this wasn´t one, he didn´t know what was. Fortunately he had enough authority to evacuate the boys there until they found a new place to live, because Tseng didn´t doubt that anyone would expect the three boys to live with their parent anylonger.

Which led to another consequence, namely that he ought to inform the authorities about the incident.

Pondering it now he had no idea why he hadn´t called the police from the very beginning. And they still needed to see a doctor…

Pushing himself up from the comfortable leather sofa Tseng decided that Yazoo had had enough time to adjust to the situation. As much as he wanted the boy to calm down, they didn´t have the time. And Tseng also feared that, after the first shock was overcome, the brothers might become less brave and just went back to 'normality'.

With long strides the teacher made his way to the bedroom and entered after a knock. Yazoo hadn´t left the bed, he leaned against the headboard in a sitting position and looked out of the window. He didn´t even move when Tseng grabbed a chair and settled down next to him.

Placing his hands in his lap, Tseng patiently waited for his student to start a conversation but the boy refused to acknowledge his presence and continued to study the window, unblinking. Noticing the untouched food on the nightstand, Tseng used it as an opener for a talk.

"So, you´re not hungry?"

When he didn´t get a reply, he tried again in a lenient voice. "You should eat something, you need the-"

"Why don´t we just skip the small talk," the boy finally interrupted him.

"Well then." Despite being slightly unnerved by the rather rude treatment Tseng chose his next words carefully and calmly declared. "We need to think about what to do with you now."

If he wasn´t mistaken, Tseng thought he could see the boy´s lips press into a thin line, though it was hard to tell since he still refused to look even into the teachers general direction. When he finally answered, however, there were no signs of emotional discomfort. "And what would that be?"

"Well, first of all we need to make sure that you are all right. If… walking isn´t an option I can call a doctor, so-"

The boy rolled his head to the other side, finally facing the man, but he didn´t look very cooperative. "No doctor."

Tseng inwardly sighed a _very_ pained sigh, as somehow he had just -against all odds- hoped that the boy would be reasonable. Unfortunately it seemed that Yazoo´s normally mature state of mind didn´t apply to this kind of situations. Nonetheless Tseng tried to reason with him.

"Yazoo, try to think about it logically. You´ve been hurt and I don´t want to be responsible for any consequental damage on your health."

"I am thinking logical," Yazoo retorted dismissively. "Do you see any wounds on my body?"

The boy waved one hand towards his body lazily. It was more of a rhetorical question Tseng left unanswered because, no, he couldn´t see any of the scratches and bruises which had covered the Yazoo´s body just a few hours ago.

"Since there are no wounds medical threatment would be a waste of time," Yazoo stated with an air of finality around him.

"You can´t walk," Tseng reminded calmly.

Obviously he had hit a rather sore point. Raising his chin a bit, Yazoo cast him a sulky look and informed him somewhat petulant "I can within the next hour."

Tseng suppressed another exasperated sigh. Why did his student have to be so difficult? It was arduous enough without him being bitchy. But then he couldn´t really blame him, though. After all, the one who was suffering most right now _was _Yazoo. It wasn´t that surprising that he tried to cling to what little dignity and pride he had left.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tseng fought to remain considerate. "What about your mental state?"

At that Yazoos eyes narrowed and his voice became icy and thoroughly suspicious. "And what is that supposed to mean? Are you implying that I am mentally ill?"

Instantly the teacher lifted his hands to appease him and denied.

"I´m not saying that you are crazy! I was just thinking that you might want to talk to someone about what happened. Someone professional. Someone you can trust."

Looking a little less annoyed Yazoo explained that he didn´t want to, which didn´t surprise Tseng at all.

"You want to talk about it with me?" he asked nevertheless.

Yazoo looked at him as if he had gone mad and Tseng sighed, tired of how the entire discussion was proceeding and not knowing how to gain his students trust. "I wished you wouldn´t treat me like I was trying to kill you. I only want to help you."

"I told you your help isn´t appreciated." Facing away from the man Yazoo went back to his former activity, namely observing the window with an aloof look on his face.

Sighing again, his frustation now clearly evident, the black haired man rose from his chair. "Fine then. I guess we´ll have to leave it to the police then."

Tseng couldn´t help the sad and resigned tone. Maybe this really was too much for him to handle.

Better to give the responsibility to the authorities. The teacher had half stood up, when Yazoo spoke again, not so confident anymore, but still managing to sound offending. "If you want to help, calling the police is surely the most witless thing you can do."

"Is that so? And what makes you come to such a conclusion?" Unimpressed Tseng slowly sat down again, tilting his head in question and watching his student closely.

"Just like I said. Calling the police would be like presenting us on a silver platter." Since his face was hidden by a curtain of silver hair Tseng couldn´t make out the expression on his student´s face.

He wasn´t sure if this was one of Yazoo´s tactics to prevent him from going public, but then the youth had sounded more bitter than hostile. And when he remembered where the boys had come from it didn´t seem so absurd. Their father seemed to own a large amount of money, judging from his estate and at times like this corruption wasn´t a foreign word to the authorities…

"And just so you know, I´m refusing any statement and so will my brothers. Call the police and I´ll tell them you took us here against our will."

There it was again, this stubborn, daring tone. Though Tseng had to admit that he kept his majestic composure perfectly well despite behaving like a baulky child. Saddened, Tseng shook his head. Just what was he supposed to do with him? After a moment silence, the man stood from his chair and said in a defeated voice:

"Well then, it seems like there is not much I can do for you, except for bringing you to a save place."

Looking slightly vexed, for he had expected far more resistance and arguing, Yazoo watched his teacher walking to a locker and taking out a white shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Define safe?"

"I´ll take you to the dorms," Tseng explained smoothly while he searched for some socks, expecting some resistance now himself, but to his relief Yazoo refrained from complaining.

Putting the clothes at the edge of the bed the teacher said "They might be too big but it´ll have to do until we can get you another school uniform. We´ll leave when you feel ready."

Yazoo didn´t make any move to pick up the clothes and watched Tseng leave the room out of the corner of his eyes. When he was alone again, he rested his head against the wall again, closing his eyes and wondering if he was doing the right thing.

--------

When Yazoo came into the living room an hour later his brothers and Tseng sat at the sofa, playing a game of cards. Tseng had intended to keep Kadaj and Loz busy so they would stop fighting about every minor thing that came to their minds.

Since he wasn´t prepared for having such young guests and he doubted that they would enjoy reading his math books, he had summoned some cards from the bottom of his drawer.

Which had lead to the boys now fighting over the card game.

Kadaj accused Loz of cheating, which the big boy denied vehemently, all the way trying to keep his secret cards in his sleeve. Yazoo went over to them, walking a bit stiffly, but otherwise he didn´seem to be in pain, just as he had predicted.

"Hey Yazzy!" Kadaj greeted, drawing his attention from Loz towards his other brother. "We´re playing rummy. Loz is cheating but I´m winning anyways."

"I´m not!" the oldest cried out with his head turning a deep shade of red, but Kadaj just rolled his eyes.

"Hm." Yazoo bent down beside his youngest brother who sat cross legged at the carpet and studied his deck as well as the cards on the table.

"Oi, why are you only helping him?" Loz whined in protest, but then he remembered that, technically, they were still quarreling and lowered his head a bit.

"Because you are seven years older and cheating," Yazoo retorted, still looking at the cards and pretending he hadn´t noticed Loz withdrawal.

"I´m not," the oldest pouted, but glanced up probitiated.

Pulling some hair behind his ear, Yazoo just arched an eyebrow -he didn´t want to get into another argument with Loz- and whispered something into Kadaj´s ear, probably instructing him for his next move, because the youngest grinned in victory.

"So mean," Loz murmured, but was compensated when Tseng -with whom somehow no one had reconded, since the man had trouble holding his many cards- finished the game in the next round.

"I guess being a math genius pays off after all." Kadaj sighed and fell back on the carpet.

"Are you ready to leave?" Tseng asked while he was putting away the cards and Loz produced an affirmative grunt.

"Do you need a belt?" the teacher asked with a side glance at Yazoo, but he shook his head in denial. He was rather big for his age, so the clothes weren´t to large, though they were a bit wide. But it was nothing Yazoo couldn´t have dealt with himself.

After the teacher had given them some of his old shoes they made their way down to the car. There were some pedestrians taking a stroll in the warm midday sun, who curiously watched the kids with the too big clothes and the unusual silver hair, but they entered the car fast and made their way through the city towards the school.

The journey was rather quiet, Tseng had to concentrate on the street and the boys were melancholically looking out of the window. After all, their life was about to change again, and it definitely wasn´t going to be an easy change.

Stopping the car at the teachers parking lot, Tseng put off the engine and motioned for the boys to follow. The school seemed somewhat strange without noisy students roaming the hallways.

When they reached the dorm office Tseng instructed them to wait outside until he had found a room for them but came back rather quickly. They made their way through some hallways the boys hadn´t been to before and walked up to another floor before they finally arrived at two rooms, Tseng had chosen for them.

Pulling out a key from his pocked the teacher unlocked the doors and explained "Two of you´ll have to share a room. I think it is best if Kadaj and Loz take this room and Yazoo gets the one to the left. It´s not very comfortable but it´ll do for now."

Kadaj was about to protest why he had to share a room with Loz and couldn´t stay with Yazoo, but the eldest, sensing his brothers attempts and being the reasonable one for once, just knocked him into the side before he could start his rant.

Looking murderously back at his oldest sibling, but keeping his mouth shut, Kadaj instead ran to the bed under the window and claimed it to be his, which led Loz to instantly argue against this 'decision'. Shaking his head, Tseng and Yazoo left them alone and went to the other room. It only contained a bed, an empty desk and a locker, but it had a high window and was bright. Yazoo briefed the room and then turned around to Tseng who waited at the door.

"I´ll get you some blankets and new uniforms and I have to deal with some formalities. If you need something just come to the office. I´ll look after you when I´m done."

With his head tilted to the side, Yazoo asked the questioned that bothered him the most right now. "What did you tell them why we are here?"

"Nothing in particular. Just that you´ll stay here for a while because of some family issues. Don´t worry, the school´s very discrete when it comes to this matters."

Yazoo just nodded and after a last glance at his student, Tseng left for the office.


	23. Chapter 23

23

Three hours later he knocked at the boy´s door again. Just a few seconds ago he had visited Loz and Kadaj, astonished that it was so quiet in their room. However, the miracle had soon unravelled itself when Tseng, upon entering, saw both boys entangled on the bed by the window, asleep. He had left their lunch at the table. They could eat or fight about it when they woke up.

"Enter."

Tseng found Yazoo sitting on the bed with crossed legs. Pretending to not having noticed the boy´s stiffening form and his wary gaze, the teacher crossed the room and placed the tray next to his student.

"I thought you might be hungry."

After a long look at the food, the boy nodded slightly and reluctantly started to eat.

"Are you fine here?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Tseng placed the uniform he had brought with him over the back of the chair. From the corner of his eye he could see Yazoo taking a listless bite from his sandwich. Gradually he seemed to relax a bit, as he allowed his eyes to rest somewhere else than his teachers back. The temperature seemed to rise a few degree at least and even Tseng felt his stiff shoulders slop down a bit. They remained in their positions in silence, but it wasn´t an unpleasant one. While Tseng observed him, Yazoo had stopped eating and seemed to be lost in thought.

Eventually he opened his mouth.

"Don´t think I´m selfish or anything. I´m just trying to get us through as best as I can."

With his tumb Tseng brushed away a lint on the black cloth and choose his own words carefully.

"I know. But I don´t think that´s a burden for you to bear. You aren´t responsible for everything that happens to your brothers and you."

"Hn. There´s no one else. If I´ll let Loz handle things, we´ll end up dead in less than a week," came the unhoumourus reply.

" There are still other people that care about you." Tseng turned around and stopped a few steps away from Yazoo who looked down at his half eaten sandwich.

"I do care. Miss Elena cares. Don´t push yourself so hard. Let us help you and your brothers. You can stay here, at the dorms. We have everything you need. The school even employs a very good psychologist. And if you don´t want to talk to him, my door will always be open."

Yazoo didn´t respond and looked to the side, though not as cagy as before.

"Alright, I don´t want to push you. But please give it a thought. And just let me tell you one more thing even though I know you don´t want to hear it: there´s absolutly no one, no one you hear me, who has the right to do these things to you. Least of all your father. No one is allowed to touch you without your permission and there is absolutly no reason for you to cover him up. You owe him nothing."

Yazoo closed his eyes for a second, but said nothing.

Feeling he had done as much as he could, Tseng turned towads the door and left him alone. At least he had a feeling that they slowly made some progress, though he exhorted himself not to be too expectant. They still had a very long way to go. He just wished he could meet Yazoo´s father in a dark ally, he would teach him a lesson in drubbing. Though normally he was far from being voilent, this man just let his blood boil…

Making his way down the corridor in deep thoughts he didn´t see the other person in the hallway and promptly crashed into the teacher.

"I´m sorry!" He ecxused himself and knelt down to lift up the sheets the other one had dropped when a familiar voice asked astonished:

"Tseng? What are _you_ doing here?"

Looking up he became aware of whom he just had hit and stopped putting the papers together. "Elena? Why are you here?"

She laughed at his startled expression and explained casually "I left some of my homework here. But I asked you first, so?"

He pressed his lips together, then rose to his feet, took her by her arm and dragged her along. Elena, being confused by his serious behavior, asked him in a concerned voice what was going on, but he just cut her off. "Not here."

Leading here to one of the empty class rooms, he waited for her to close the door and take a seat before he explained himself with his back to her.

"You were right."

"I was?" she asked back, confused. "About what?"

"About the boys. Loz gave me a call last night. It´s as bad as we thought. If not worse."

Eyes widening, Elena had to process what she was hearing. "Wa-Wait a minute. Are you just- trying to tell me what I think you are?"

"They are getting abused by their father, yes. At least Yazoo."

If she hadn´t already been sitting down she was sure after this revelation she´d have had to, as her legs were feeling very shaky. "B-but, how? I mean I was there, at their home, and everything seemed fine to me."

"Maybe that´s just because he´s a good liar. No, both of them… I´m sure he seemed nice and caring to you and since Yazoo refused to tell us anything about what´s going on in this household you can´t be blamed for not noticing."

Elena watched him out of big blue eyes.

Seeing her unbelieving stare, the black haired man decided that he had to elaborate although he didn´t intent to burden her with the too nasty details.

"Loz told me that something bad had happened and I drove to their house. The father wasn´t there, but I found Yazoo in the bedroom, bleeding. There´s no doubt about what happened to him, believe me. I couldn´t leave them there, who knows what else the man would have done. They stayed at my home and I brought them here just a couple hours ago," he finished.

Elena still shook her head in disbelief, she couldn´t fancy she hadn´t noticed. It was impossible, wasn´t it? He´d been so very concerned for their well-being…

"Are you sure you haven´t been mistaken?"

"Absolutly," he assured her grimly.

"My god…" With one hand she coverd her mouth, shaking.

Taking pity on her miserable state, Tseng laid a hand on her back in a comforting manner and waited for her to calm down. When she finally had stopped trembling, he quietly said "Don´t blame yourself. They are save now. I gave them two rooms until we can take further action, but Yazoo still seems reluctant to accept help. But it might help the boys, at least Kadaj, if you could, maybe talk to them, so they don´t feel left alone."

She nodded and stood up.

"You sure you´re okay?" Tseng worried.

"Yeah, I´m…fine. Just a little shocked, I guess." She gave him a shaking little laugh that betrayed her otherwise bewildered face.

"Everyone would be. Take a rest or something, it doesn´t need to be now."

She nodded again and excused herself, leaving the other behind.

Stumbling through the hallways, Elena tried to understand what Tseng had revealed to her just a minute ago. It just couldn´t be, could it? But then, Tseng wasn´t a person to jump to quick conclusions, he was a trustworthy man…

When she rounded a corner she ran into a student and was even more taken a back when she noticed him to be no one other than Yazoo.

The boy however tilted his head slightly and asked her politely if she was alright. Nodding mechanically, she stared at him as if he was a ghost. Frowning, he asked her if he should escort her to the nursery, but she recovered rather quick.

"No, thank you. I was just surprised to see you here, that´s all." Apparently he didn´t seem convinced but nodded and bowed nonetheless. Then he vanished behind the corner she had just come from. Looking after him, Elena clutched her papers harder and with a determined expression went after her own business.

Meanwhile Yazoo had reached his goal, namely the school library. He slipped through the heavy doors into the quiet, dusty hall. Taking a look around he briefed himself that it was empty, because he really did´t need an audience for what he was going to do. Finding no one to disturb him, he silently made his way to one of the heavy shelves and went deeper into the mass of books.

Usually a school wasn´t as well equiped as theirs, but then this school wasn´t an average institution, after all. Only the very rich or smart could affort to be educated here and therefore the school had to offer a worthy compensation. Thus one could find books in here one normally wouldn´t find even in a public library, for example very rare first editions of selected literature, but also a lot of reference books.

For his own research Yazoo went to one of the darker corners where the psychology books had been placed. Looking up at the high shelf he took a breath and began to go through the saddles.

It stroke him kind of awkward that he stood here in the half lit corridor, since he first hadn´t intented to take any actions at all. Though he had to admit that it had made him incredibly uncomfortable that he didn´t know what to do, since he always had been the one person in charge.

Somehow he´d always managed to keep things at a managable level, but this time everything had gone out of control.

And pretending that nothing had happened was not an option any longer, though god knows he had tried. But Kadaj and especially Loz obviously had reached their limits and therefore decided that it was about time to face the situation and take the consequences. He couldn´t blame them, really.

But the real turning point had occured, when Loz had come into his new room just 15 minutes ago with his ringing cellphone in hand. The oldest had grabbed it from his bag that night to call Tseng and then had taken it with him, but until then it had been forgotten in his pocket.

The big boy had hold the phone towards him like it was poisoned and had been on the verge of tears. Kadaj had stood behind Loz, clinging to his trousers and observing Yazoo with troubled, concerned eyes from behing his fringe. Yazoo had taken the phone and watched it vibrating in his own slender hand.

The number of his father had been shown, and the moment he saw it the world suddenly seemed to turn slower.

It was strange, _he _had felt strange.

At first, it was relief.

Because for a moment he had thought that when he´d lift the receiver and explain everything, Sephiroth would understand that it hadn´t been his fault. He would come and take them back, away from Tseng and his nagging.

Everything could be back to normal…

But then Kadaj had darted from behind Loz´ back and wrenched the phone from his hand. With icy cold eyes, he´d smashed the item on the ground and trampled it with his little feet until the ringing died down. Yazoo could only do so much as to blink and Loz gave his brother an acknowledging look. Kadaj hadn´t explained himself, but it hadn´t been necessary anyway. They had understood. From this time on, a lot of things would change.

Yazoo found some title that would serve his purposes and took the books out of the shelf. He went to one of the comfortable chairs by the windows, where he could sit with enough light and started reading.

After what seemed like 4 hours, the sun had almost gone down and the fading light was the only reason why Yazoo finally stopped and decided to go back. He gathered the books in his arms, it was five or six of them, and walked through the corridors of high bookshelves. When he reached the end of one he bumped into another visitor and dropped his books in surprise. He´d thought he´d been the only one here…

It must have been his lucky day, because the person he had run into was the last one he wanted to see again, least in a very lonely, dark library.

"The fuck?!" Rubbing his knee and glaring furiously up at his attacker a certain redhead sweared his way up to his feet.

Seeing who had caused him his pain Reno´s face became even more vicious "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"None of your business," the other teen stated coldly and bent down to get his books as fast as he could and leave the library. He absolutly wasn´t in the mood for a fight with his special friend.

Reno however didn´t seem to be willing to let him go that easily, especially since Loz didn´t seem to be around and he still wasn´t over the incident at the school yard. It had hurt his pride more than he wanted to admit and the brat now surely had it coming. After all Yazoo had hit him first, and that it hadn´t happened intentionally didn´t matter to Reno. He couldn´t even say why, but the kid got through him, always being so stuck up and arrogant, as if he was something better.

"Wrong answer, pal." He sneered and stepped at one of the books Yazoo was about to gather. The boy looked up at the annoyed face of his opponent, who stared down at him in return.

"You are damaging school property," he informed the redhead, who began to smirk.

"Oh, really. I´m sorry. Why don´t you run to your dumbass of a brother and tell him? Or… maybe he isn´t here to protect little Yazoo from the bad guys, eh?"

Satisfied by the hostile glare from the brat -since it assured him that Loz _indeed_ wasn´t around- he stepped down from the book, but only to stay directly between the shelves and thus blocking the way out of the library. Yazoo got up slowly, the rest of his books now clutched to his chest and made a step back, never leaving his opponents figure.

"Now let´s try again. What are you doing here? No, wait, let me guess." Reno made a face as if he was having a hard time to think, then he lightened up. "You came here because you have absolutely no life. Or maybe you just thought it would be funny to outsmart everyone with your stupid general knowledge, yo?"

"If you say so."

That was what Reno hated about him most. This disgustingly polite, aloof attitude, never becoming angry or aggressive, just being arrogant and annoying. Suddenly Reno thought that he´d love to see him cry a little. He wouldn´t hurt him, not if he wasn´t sick of life since Loz could still come up to him later. But teasing and scaring the shit out of him surely would be okay. Just to show him that the world wasn´t all sunshine and ice cream and that his daddy´s money wouldn´t safe him from everything.

Threatening, he made a step forward and grabbed one of the boy´s books, his grin widening when the boy flinched and backed away, but Reno was faster. Victoriously he lifted the book up in the dusty air and expectantly eyed the other teen.

Upon seeing Yazoo standing there rather unimpressed and not doing him the favour of bursting into tears, Reno´s smirk vanished to make place for a disappointed pout. Dropping his arm, he turned his attention towards his capture and he snorted "What were you reading again anyways? You sure need a life, yo. Your books won´t safe you from the big bad world…"he declared haughtily, glanced at the book title and then stopped mitsentence with narrowed eyes.

"What´s this?" he asked, more to himself, though he could read the title very clearly. "A monography about child abuse?"

He looked back at Yazoo who had pressed his lips together and glared back at him from under his bangs. Then he snatched the book out of the redheads hand before he could protest and rushed past him. Dumbfounded, Reno looked after him, too surprised to follow.


	24. Chapter 24

24

Yazoo threw the books at his bed and vanished in the small bathroom next to his room. He could´ve smacked himself for being so inattentive. Why did he have to bump into Reno, of all people?! He didn´t know what the guy´s problem was and under different circumstances wouldn´t have _cared_, but unfortunately the other had decided to declare him his arch enemy (and for no apparent reason at that) and making his life miserable whenever he could!

Yazoo held his hands under the cold water and splashed it into his face. What unnerved him most wasn´t the threatening behaviour Reno had shown, but the strange look he had given him after reading the book´s title. He was tired and angry, he had absolutely no nerve to deal with an annoying, imbecile redhead and explain, why he was reading the books he read.

But then maybe it was Yazoo who was too stupid to see through things. After all he just needed to pretend that he was working on a project for school or something.

Shutting the water he grabbed for a towel and dried his face, when he came to look into the mirror.

Some of his hair was wet and stuck to his white skin and some drops hung from his black lashes. Blinking them away, Yazoo kept staring back at himself emotionlessly for a minute, then he abruptly turned on his heels. With a melancholical look on his face he entered his room, where he was greeted with an unexpected and very unappreciated "Yo."

Sitting at his open window, crossleggend and flicking through one of his books, Reno had made himself at home. "Didn´t know you´re residing here now."

Though he wasn´t exactly nice (a sheer impossible task for Reno anyway), he wasn´t hostile either and the aggressive athmosphere that had surrounded him earlier was nowhere to be found. Still, it didn´t do anything to silence the shrilling alarm bells in Yazoo´s head.

"What are you doing here?" the silver haired teen asked sternly, not trusting the peace.

"Me? Nothin." Reno skipped another page. „Just give a warm welcome to my new neighbour..." He smiled sweetly at Yazoo.

Now this was just great. As if he didn´t have enough things to deal with, _Reno _lived next door to him and all that separated them was a tiny, paperthin wall. It really must have been his lucky day.

Still being on guard, the teen placed the towel over his chair . "So you did. Now leave."

Ignoring the command, Reno turned the book in his hand, reading the title again and stating casually "Nice evening reading you have here."

Tilting his head, his face an impenetrable mask, Yazoo replied. "That´s for a homework." Though Reno didn´t miss the impatiently and slightly exasperated undertone in his voice.

"Sure. And I bet Tseng brought you here just out of some crazy mood."

Not knowing what to say and not really motivated to think of a witty comment, Yazoo remained silent, though he looked even more distanced and not only slightly annoyed. He didn´t care what Reno thought about his situation.

Reno threw the book aside, stretched himself with a satisfying crackle and leant with his hands behind his head against the wall.

Apparantly he didn´t think about leaving, much to Yazoo´s distress.

"Tell me," the redhead demanded suddenly, looking with interest at the other student.

"Tell you what?"

"About your presentation."

"It´s a homework."

"Whatever." Rolling his eyes, Reno started to fumble with one of his pockets until he pulled out a wrinkled packet of cigarettes. He wanted to lit one, however Yazoo stepped forward in protest but Reno just smirked. "Relax, yo. It´s just a ciggy. Won´t kill you. Well, at least not right away."

Holding a match at the end of the cigarette he took a breath and then exhaled deeply with obvious pleasure.

"Want one?" he held the package into Yazoo´s direction who disgustedly denied. Sighing, Reno put the packet away. "Why am I not surprised…"

They were quiet for a moment in which Reno enjoyed his smoke and Yazoo frantically thought about how he could get lost of this redhaired nuisance without collateral damage.

Collateral damage to Reno, that was.

Finally said plague had enough of the silence. "Not gonna tell me, eh?"

Yazoo didn´t deign to reply but his eyes said more than thousand words. Only over his dead body.

"My, are we talkative today." Reno sarcastically rolled his eyes again and snipped his finished cicarette out of the window. "Well, then I´m gonna tell you about an essay _I_ wrote."

Not bothered by the absolutely unenthusiastical "Lucky me." from his girly room neighbour, Reno stretched his legs and continued.

"Once upon a time it was a really hot and sweaty summer vacation. Perfect weather for hooking up chicks ´n stuff, but nooo. I had to do freakin' homework. Fuck them! I mean, why are they calling it a vacation when you´ll have to do schoolstuff anyways?!"

Yazoo could have told him, but he _really_ wasn´t in the mood. He´d already had this discussion one time to often with Loz…

"Whatever. Anyway, so there I was, being pissed and all but the best was yet to come: my topic was to write about some friggin´alcoholic and his fucked up family."

Yazoo, who had uninterestedly observed an ant fighting its way around his carpet, looked up to Reno who revolted on the bed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you´re saying. How would I know something about that. That´s what I asked the fuckin son of a bitch who called himself my teacher too but you know what he said?! 'Do some research.' " He imitated his unloved teacher in a high pitched voice and grabbed for another cigarette, snorting. "But what should I do, the fag´d let me blackball for sure if I didn´t finish the fuckin' thing till the end of 'vacation'. Got no choice but do this reading thing 'n stuff."

He sighed . "Well, but me being a clever boy I really did find something. I bet you´re dying to know what happened so I´ll be ample and share it with you."

Yazoo only shot him an 'you wish' look and seeing that Reno wasn´t nowhere near to leave, he cantankerously leaned against the wall and looked bored.

"There was this punk, let´s call him Larry, old dirty mechanic, had lost his job 'cause of some stuff mysteriously vanishing always when _he_ was on guard and because of some rather not so nice other things. He was small and unshaved, always smelling of cheap eau de toilette and ciggys, but he had some big fists, I tell ya. Anyways. After losing his job he became even more messed up, if _that´s_ possible. Somehow though, he´d managed to bring around some poor chick to marry him and they even managed to produce an offspring which now lived with them in a two-room apartment in the slums. You know what a slum is, don´t you?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Yazoo gave him one of his infamous scowls.

"Just had to make sure." Reno smirked and continued. "So, they were living there as a little happy family. Daddy being drunk 24/7, mommy hiding in the bedroom, crying her eyes out and the little boy, trying to find something to eat in the garbage that piled to the ceiling. The rest of the day he was busy avoiding the street gangs and at home avoiding his daddy´s madness. Because you know, if things don´t go your way it´s a perfectly fine option to use your kid as a punching bag.

The little boy´s mommy however sometimes doubted her husband a little and from time to time she even locked the boy up with her in the bedroom. Buth then daddy would become very, very angry and after one of his fits there was no bedroom door to close anymore."

Reno took another drag. " So the boy had to hide elsewhere and decided that the best place to do so was the local library. And yes, they do have libraries in the ghettos, nothing compared to our piece of cake, but there were books there nontheless."

Yazoo only lifted an eyebrow at the sarcastic statement, which was skillfully ignored by the redhead.

" And so the boy started reading, and he was so successful that he became really smart and to his teachers surprise his grades became better and better. But daddy didn´t seem to be so happy about that, cause he thought reading was a waste of time and his boy should better be working so they could buy more beer.

And he didn´t like the precocius statements and arguings his youngest was giving him lately such as: 'stop drinking, don´t hit mommy, get a job…' and so on.

Unfortunately, since the boy seemed to be promissing, his teachers had an eye on him and so daddy couldn´t beat him into a bloody pulp anylonger. But Larry wasn´t as dumb as he looked and there was still mommy, so everything went fine for while.

That was, until one day mommy decided that she had enough and packed her things to leave with the little boy.

But, too bad, daddy got wind of that and he became VERY angry.

So he hit mommy in the face really hard.

And mommy fell down the stairs, all the way. There was a cracking noice and the boy first thought the wooden stairs would give away, but when he looked at mommy on the floor he saw that her head was in a very awkward angle.

She´d broken her neck in the fall, daddy seemed to notice too, and said something like, 'Serves the bitch right'. Four days later mommy was six feet under. Since the police couldn´t bring evidence for a murder -or simply didn´t care- daddy went back to sitting drunk in front of the TV. The boy however had been taken away by his teachers and from then on lived at a very profitable school."

Reno finished his cigarette and threw the fumming stumb out. It was already early nighttime and the room had become dark with only some moonlight shining through the window, painting strange patterns on the floor.

Yazoo hadn´t left his post and was still standing against the wall, observing the beds occupant. Reno seemed unusually thoughtful and nearly too quiet for his liking. Which was an obscurum in itself since there hadn´t been one time when Yazoo hadn´t wished for the redhead to spare him with his vulgaries and just shut up...

"What happened to the father?"

The question seemed to pull the redhead out of his mind and he looked up at Yazoo, back to being cocky. "The hell do I know? My homework ended there." He shrugged.

Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Yazoo walked over to his chair and dismissively sat down, arms crossed over his chest. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Dunno." Reno yawned. "Maybe to give you some inspiration for your presentation."

"Homework." Yazoo corrected him mechanically.

"Whatever. Anyway, let´s call it a night. I ain´t too thrilled to wake up in a girly guys bed and question my sexuality first thing in the morning. Guess you still have to do a lot of research anyway."

He smirked at the disconcerted expression of his favorite prey and finally moved from the bed.

Shuffling towards the door and blatantly yawning, giving his environment a good, very much unwanted view at his perfect, white teeth, Reno was about to leave. At the last moment though, he stopped, taking a look at the other boy who had already put on the light on his desk and with a concentrated expression was busy with his books, totally ignoring the still not gone Reno.

"He died of a heart attack."

"Hm?" Yazoo looked up in slight confusion.

"I said he died of a simple, plain heart attack. Just fell out of his chair and was dead."

The silver haired teen didn´t say anything, partly because he didn´t know what to say and partly because the strangely calm statement was so very un-Reno-esque, that it creeped him out a little.

As he stood there, hand on the doorknob and this distanced, serious and cold look in his eyes Yazoo came to think that maybe Reno wasn´t as carefree and brainless as he always seemed.

Though he refused to think that maybe they shared more similarities, than Yazoo would have prefered…

"Just really wished it would have been me who sent him to the other side. Would have gotten _much_ uglier."

Reno gave him another one of his strange looks and was gone before Yazoo could answer. Tilting his head again, the silver haired boy looked thoughtfully at the closed door for one more minute and then went back to his own problems.


	25. Chapter 25

**Thanks to jsakurachan1 for pointing out spelling mistakes! It´s corrected now. **

25

Tseng turned a page and read the next passage with a concentrated frown on his face. He had paid a visit to the library this morning to re-educate himself in the matters of child abuse, for it seemed that he wouldn´t go anywhere with his technically non existent knowledge. To his surprise the assortment had been rather poor, but not because the library didn´t store any books but because someone had already taken them. A short look at the register -that authomatically saved every lending through a marvelous eye scanning device (a process one didn´t even notice)- told him that maybe Yazoo wasn´t as uninterested and detached as he pretended to be.

He just hoped the kid would actually read the books.

The dark haired man's frown deepened when somewhere outside the teachers' lounge muffled noises penetrated his ears. Slightly annoyed he rose fom his chair to see what the commotion was all about. He half expected to see Reno abuse the corridor as his own personal skateboard route _again_, but instead of being confronted with the overenergetic loud mouth, he only could make out two people at the end of the hallway.

Judging from their height they definitely weren´t students, and narrowing his eyes, Tseng discerned one of them as the principal. The other person however remained in the shadows, and Tseng pondered if he should join them to see if everything was alright. Even though this school had tighter security than a nunnery it couldn´t hurt to casually walk past them, pretending to be on his way to the bathroom…

Closing the distance between them he could see that the two were apparently in some kind of argument, meaning that the principal was trying to appease whoever it was with soothing gestures. Though the nearer he got the more familiar the silouette of the person standing in front of one of the high windows became.

Probably it was just one of the parents, albeit this one seemed to be one of the more higher ranked, judging fom the principals efforts to calm the man down. Tseng almost had passed them, losing interest since everything seemed to be alright so far, when his superior finally spotted him and immediately focused her attention on him.

"Oh, Tseng, what perfect timing. I was about to call you anyway. Could you come here for a moment?"

Cocking his head in question the teacher obeyed and joined their little party by the window. And finally the features of the visitor became clear. Tseng´s eyes widened in surprise and disbelief when he came to a halt in front of none other than the great general Sephiroth, who coolly looked down at the rather unhappy principal.

Now Tseng came to fully comprehend why his boss had been reduced to such a nervous wreck, even he felt uncomfortable and small under the general's imperious glare.

The principal licked her lips and quickly glanced back at the general, smiling apologetically. "This is Mister Tseng, one of our math teachers. Tseng, this is general Sephiroth, I´m sure you have heard of him."

Tseng nodded and bowed down, receiving an indifferent look and a short nod in return.

"It´s an honour to meet you sir."

There was a grunt from Sephiroth that may should have been an attempt at acknowledgement but revealed his impatience, which didn´t surprise Tseng in the least. He thought the man was someone who might be brilliant on the battlefield but was quite obviously no one for elaborate social contacts. He was used to command and expected his orders to be carried out, so usually there was no need for small talk and courtesies.

Though Tseng found this to be a bit haughty, he respected Sephiroth for his accomplishments and after all he certainly had every right to be arrogant, so the teacher choose to ignore his attitude and instead asked in a friendly manner:

"May I ask what business you have here? Maybe I can help." Oddly enough the principal gave the lead into his hands immediately and stepped a little behind him, Tseng noticed with amusement (and a bit of satisfaction).

"Now that would be something," the general remarked sarcastically with a disgusted side glance at his former discussion partner. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the principal he explained in a slightly, but not very significantly, less annoyed fashion. "I´m looking for my children."

Tseng was too much a professional to let his astonishment show on his face, although he couldn´t help but wonder about the fact that Sephiroth actually had offsprings. As far as he knew there had never been any reports that the famous swordsman had any kind of relationships nor that he had _children_. But then there wasn´t known much about said man's private life anyway and Tseng sure had better things to do than keeping up with the gossip.

When he took another scrutinizing look at the silver haired man he also seemed to look like he hadn´t been out of school since too long ago himself, despite his holier-than-thou-attitude and his grave face.

"Well, we´ll see if they are here. If you´d like to follow me..."

Tseng made an inviting gesture towards the end of the hallway and started to lead the man towards the bureau. Sephiroth followed a few steps behind, carrying himself in that proud manner of his, when Tseng asked with interest, but not too curiously, for further details. "May I ask for your infant's names?"

"You may," the general permitted amply."Their names are Loz. Kadaj. Yazoo."

The clear, deep voice cut through the warm afternoon silence like a knife through warm butter and Tseng stopped dead in his tracks. He just felt like someone had thrown him into icy water.

The general noticed the teacher´s stiff back and sudden halt and raised an eyebrow.

"Anything wrong with that?" It was not so much of a question but an order to continue their walk, but Tseng slowly turned around to face the general with widened eyes.

"You are Loz´s, Kadaj´s and Yazoo´s father?"

The general´s eyes now showed impatience and clear annoyance, although he kept his face straight otherwise. He was sick of standing in hallways and dealing with incompetent civilians. As if he didn´t have other things to do…

"I believe I just mentioned that. Now if you would be so kind to guide me to wherever they are, I don´t have all day," he retorted with false kindness, even summoning a thin smile to his lips, but his eyes didn´t smile at all.

Tseng continued to stare and something seemed to change inside him, as his body suddenly screamed rejection and his eyes went a cold, hard shade of black. Clenching his hands into fits and rising his chin, he stated dismissively "When I think about it; no. I certainly should not let you see them."

The general´s eyes widened a fraction in disbelief for he wasn´t used to be flatly told out that his orders were refused. Otherwise however he didn´t let his disbelief be shown. Though if they had been at the base and Tseng would have been one of his recruits there wouldn´t have been much left of him, save for a quivering, bloody mess. But fortunately for the math teacher they weren´t and so Sephiroth had to settle for an unruffled "Oh? And why is that?"

Tseng didn´t fall for the innocent question and remained obstinate, hardly repressing his overwhelming emotions.

"I believe you know very well why," he pressed out, having a hard time to not shove his fist into the general´s insolent, beautiful face.

Right now, everything felt so very unreal to him, like a very, very, VERY bad dream. He could hear his blood rush in his ears, his heart pounding, all the while having images of Yazoo flashing up in front of his inner eye, the boy lying in a puddle of blood on a too large bed.

This just couldn´t be real, it had to be a bad joke someone was playing on him. He half expected that the next second some hyperactive brat would jump out from behind a curtain with an entire camera team, screaming "You just got punk'd, man!".

It couldn´t be the _general_…!

Said general stared back blankly at the dark haired, exotic looking man, then his eyes narrowed and the smile vanished. "Take me to them. Now."

But Tseng still refused to move even his small finger and their staring contest went on for another minute, until the general threatened in a low voice "That´s an order."

Tseng's expression tightened even more and he choose to ignore the principal who completely failed to understand what was going on and why Tseng had suddenly out of the blue decided to be suicidal and even worse, drag _her_ along. It had looked so good just a minute ago! But then she also didn´t dare to interrupt them and settled with nervous looks between the two men.

"Who told you they are here?"

The corpulent principal gasped at the open hostility her teacher showed towards the great general, but before Sephiroth could open his mouth to say something clearly threatening, the door to the office swang open and Elena stepped out with a paper she was reading.

Not bothering to look up and be impressed by the whole situation she beamed "I just found the information, sir. Their rooms are 123 and 124, that´s just down the hall and lef-". She had finally looked up and her thriumphant expression froze when she saw her desperate superiour and the two men having their silent battle of wills in the middle of the corridor.

"Ts-Tseng, what are you doing here?" She awkwardly pushed a strand of hair out of her face, taking a few uncertain steps towards them. She avoided eye contact with Tseng since she felt somehow… guilty.

Though she told herself that she hadn´t done anything wrong. To help herself out of this nasty situation, she cleared her throat and declared in a forced, joyful voice "Ooh, Tseng. What a coincidence, I was just about to show the general through our school. I´m sure you have heard about his glorius victory over at the western border, it was a masterstroke-"

"I know who he is," Tseng interrupted her harshly and she flinched.

"What I want to know is why you brought him here."

She crunched the paper in her hand, not knowing where to look. "W-Well, I thought I should inform him, since they are his children and we should really clear up this misunderstanding…" She gave a forced, nervous little laugh which endet in a cough while Tseng continued to stare at her in disbelieve.

"Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?! It is obvoius what this man did! This guy is insane! How could you-"

"You did the absolute right thing," the genral interrupted and walked past Tseng towards the woman who looked thankfully up at his mighty figure. He laid a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner, but his cold gaze was focused on Tseng.

"I am wondering who the insane one out of us here is. You are obviously having serious mental problems and _I_ don´t have time for this." He snatched the paper from Elenas hand. Tseng made a step forward in protest but was held back by the principal who had finally came back to her senses.

Not bothering to waste more of his precious time with the struggling teacher, Sephiroth turned at his heels and strode down the hall with his head upraised and a victorious smirk on his lips.

Tseng watched the man walking around a corner and prayed that the boys were strong enough to oppose him, while he was dragged into the bureau of his furious principal, followed by a bemused Elena.


	26. Chapter 26

**Hello there, it´been some time, but I finally updated :)**

**Thanks to my beta j.sakurachan1 whom I can´t thank enough for looking through this!**

**Enjoy!**

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26

Yazoo sat on his bed, arms wrapped around his knees melancholically observing the park outside, when the door opened. Turning his head, he was about to send whatever visitor had decided to disturb him away since he was absolutely not in the mood for company right now. Earlier that morning Kadaj had jumped at him, telling him with a cheerful, giddy smile that he didn't need to worry about anything any longer and he, Kadaj, would take care of him from now on. Yazoo had no idea where the little boy had taken his confidence from; neither did he know if he actually approved of this sudden outburst. As if it was so easy…

The unfriendly words were stuck in his throat, however, when he was met with familiar green eyes and long silver hair. Sephiroth shut the door behind him with a small click, his presence immediately taking over the room.

"Good afternoon, Yazoo." The general's voice was calm and friendly; not showing any sign of anger, but as Yazoo knew that never said anything about his true intentions whatsoever. As it was, the general's mood swings were infamous amongst those who knew him at least a bit, and usually everyone was prone stay at the man's good side.

Thus Sephiroth hadn't expected the rather cold look he received instead of a proper, submissive greeting. However, he didn't seem to be bothered, as he eyed the boy who had changed into cross legged and stepped further into the room slowly. Maybe Yazoo was too afraid or ashamed to speak to him.

"I didn't think you would be so childish and run away." The general marveled, as he let his gaze wander through the mostly bare room. "Well. I assume that you had enough time to reflect over your misbehavior and realize your faults. Since you've been generally well behaved, I decided to forgive you. This time." The general informed him generously, resting his eyes on the boy again, a smug smile gracing his fine features. Actually, _now_ he had expected a sign of gratitude or at least an apology from the boy for his inept behavior, and narrowed his eyes ever so slightly when Yazoo still refused to eat humble pie or even acknowledge his magnanimity.

"Well?"

The general made another leisure step into the room, one delicate eyebrow raised in anticipation. He wasn't used to being ignored, or getting the cold shoulder, since it wasn't healthy for anyone who dared to let him wait for whatever he desired. Still, as he was familiar with people Yazoo's age (see also runts he had to deal with on a daily basis a.k.a. recruits), he blamed puberty for the boys out of character behavior and reminded himself to be lenient. It wouldn't help anyone if he lost his cool here and beat the boy into a bloody pulp, least himself, as he preferred his toy unblemished and beautiful. Besides, to him it seemed like nothing he couldn't solve with a little sweet talk, he was a master of manipulation after all, and pretty confident that he could talk the boy out of his sulking mood. It was rather annoying, though…

Sighing, he summoned a friendly smile. "Now, now kitten, I'd appreciate it if you could stop sulking, it doesn't suit you, believe me…" He trailed off when something caught his eye. Stopping in front of the youth's desk, green eyes took in the books that were sprawled on the desktop. Some had been bookmarked, and here and there little papers were sticking out of sides, where Yazoo obviously had taken some notes. Sephiroth lifted one particularly large book up, striding with one finger over the book title, and his smile vanished, making place for a dangerous look.

Yazoo carefully observed the man's back, though from his position it was impossible to see any emotions that the man might have shown.

"Child abuse? That's some interesting literature you have here…"

At least his voice betrayed no resentment at all. Pretending to be mildly interested, the general flicked through some pages, then put the book back on the stack.

"Interesting, indeed." Yazoo's voice came from the bed, aloof and…was that hostility the general detected there? No, he must have misheard, that was just ridiculous.

"Well, if that's your new hobby then, I'll see that I can get you whatever book you desire." The general offered, still friendly. He hadn't ordered the boy to obey, as it normally wasn't necessary and he wanted Yazoo to follow his will on his own accord. Still Yazoo didn't move to pack his belongings and leave the school. Instead the boy watched him from behind his bangs and remained as still as he had been the entire time, arms draped over his knees.

"Ah, I don't think so."

The general tilted his head in question, truly confused for a minute, until his mind proceeded that the brat at outright refused his offer for salvation.

"I take it you want to be difficult then?" The general raised his brow again, looking rather unimpressed. Though a dark shadow had flickered over his face, one of malice and fury, one he wasn't even aware of. It had lasted only a millisecond, until the tall man reminded himself, that it wasn't the boys fault, not really. The one to blame was this annoying teacher, as the general harbored no doubt that Tseng had been the one to give Yazoo the books and abet him on opposing his master. Well, he could deal with the man later, first he had to get the rebelling teenager back under his control.

He didn't receive anything other than that unreadable look, the boy keeping his face straight and as blank as a new sheet of paper.

"I see."

The general turned back towards the desk, letting his slender fingers wander over the books slowly, as if in deep thought.

"Well, whatever this man told you, you should not pay too much attention to it. Teachers these days are so full of suspicions. You are an intelligent young man, I'm sure you are aware of the nature of those accusations, mh? We both know that this is ridiculous," he offered another smile and reached out his hand towards the youth. "Now, be a good boy and get your things together, it's getting dark and I'd like to be home before nightfall."

Yazoo watched the outstretched hand with his head hanging down, looking somewhat uncertain. The general widened his smile a bit, assuring the boy that it was okay. Yazoo remained in his position for another moment, then finally raised his pretty head. Sephiroth could hardly suppress the triumphant glint in his eyes, as his child looked finally up to him openly, the hostile expression gone and replaced by a small, thoughtful smile.

"Did you know?" he suddenly asked, looking somewhat sly. "The maximum penalty for child abuse is twenty years." The general looked at the smiling youth as if he had grown another head, slowly letting his hand sink back.

"But I'm sure you know that, given your position." Yazoo continued in a chatting manner, tilting his head to the side, never leaving his eyes from the general's. "I'm wondering what people would say, if they'd find out about our 'little games'. Not to forget your superiors. Or the media. Hm, yes, I think you could manage to get the full twenty years…"

The general's face was petrified as the words slowly sunk in. This wasn't just one of the normal puberty caused rebellions or mood swings. This was outrageous!

Sephiroth had to scrape together all his self control, to not snap the boy's neck in half, as he stood there, pupils paper thin. He'd have wiped the stupid infuriating smirk from the boy's features if it hadn't vanished by itself. With a considerable amount of endeavor, Sephiroth held back himself and then smiled a creepy thin smile, voice seemingly calm, but dangerously low, "You ungrateful little punk. Child abuse, is it? You haven't even seen me getting started, but rest assured that I will teach you a lesson you won't forget."

His smile widened a bit, but it didn't reach the generals eyes. His green orbs were radiating a violence and primal urge to kill SOMETHING. That was it. His patience had been stretched beyond the point of tolerance. And though it was true that he had treated the boy with far much more regard than most of his contacts, this time he had definitely gone too far. This wasn't child's play any longer, or something that he was willing to overlook. This was dead serious.

It seemed, though, that the brat in question was no less serious, as his gaze was steady and he looked him in the eye with a stubborn confidence. Not able to take such boldness anymore, the general made another step forward to grab the boy by the collar and show him what he was REALLY capable off, when Yazoo, calmly and with a superior air around him said. "Touch me and I'll scream. I'm wondering how that would make you look."

Clenching his teeth and now having a truly insane gleam in his eyes, Sephiroth stared down at the boy, but restrained his gloved hands. Looming over the boy on the bed, he finally stated in an icy, scornful tone. "Who do you think you are?! You are nothing but an insignificant powerless brat. No one will ever believe you." He made a step back, looking down at 'his' child with slight disgust and malice. A smirk had found its way back on his lips.

Yazoo remained undiscouraged, though, pointing out. "I have at least three witnesses. And I am rather confident that any psychologist will attest me at least depression, withdrawal and personality disorders." A tiny smirk appeared on his lips as he noticed the narrowing of the general's eyes. "If I want me to," he continued in a deadly serious voice, all hints of amusement gone, "I can make sure that you'll never walk the earth as a free man again. I can take away from you whatever I want. Your job, your belongings, your prestige. Your life. "

The general stared at his foster child. The runt couldn't be serious, could he?! He couldn't seriously think that he would get away alive with that farce he'd created, could he?! For the first time it dawned on the older man that Yazoo might really take his laughable blabbering serious. Seeing that the man before him finally seemed to realize that he was indeed, very serious, Yazoo leaned back casually and observed his nails.

Though he didn't show it, it filled him with some satisfaction that he had the general's undivided attention for once and that his father noticed that he was indeed a threat. As a minute passed by and Sephiroth still lacked for words, Yazoo continued "As you can see, I am well informed about my rights."

If it was possible, the general's gaze became even colder. Though right now he couldn't think of anything he'd have more liked than strangle the runt with his own intestines, one part of him had to satisfactorily admit that the kid had done his homework, alright.

"However, I might be willing to change my perspective. Under one condition." The boy suddenly offered businesslike, the threatening undertone gone. Looking up from the spot where he had burnt holes on the ground with his gaze, the general tilted his head with a raised eyebrow, facing his determined child and answered coolly, with a hint of biting sarcasm. "And what might _that_ be?"

--

Tseng paced the floor outside the boys' rooms anxiously. Beside him, Elena stared at the ground, lips pressed together. Kadaj and Loz whispered to themselves at the end of the floor, glancing fearfully at their brother's room every now and then. After Tseng had left the bureau of the principle in the middle of her ranting, an action he was sure would cost him his job if things turned out the worst, he had searched for the other boys to make sure that they were alright. They weren't any longer, however, as soon as he told them that their father had shown up to take them back. Loz had started to cry and Kadaj had paled at an alarming rate to the extent that Tseng feared he might fall unconscious. If that didn't tell the principle that something was wrong, he didn't know what would.

However his superior waited with crossed arms and a grim look for the general to finish his business with his middle child, so that she could eat humble pie afterwards. To think that one of her teachers had accused the great general of child abuse!

They waited for what seemed to be an eternity, until the door finally cracked open, and the general stepped outside. Tseng was by his side immediately to look for Yazoo, but that came to realize soon that it wasn't necessary. The boy stood behind his father with his belongings tugged under his arm and an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yazoo…"

Ignoring his math teacher, Yazoo turned towards his brothers. "Loz, Kadaj, get your things. We're going home." He smiled reassuringly into their blank faces. Tseng stood frozen to the spot. It just couldn't be…

In a desperate attempt to bring the boy back to his senses, he grabbed Yazoo's arm, nails digging into his shirt. "Yazoo, be reasonable, you don't have to!" The next moment, his wrist was painfully crushed in an iron grip, belonging to the great general and he let go with a hiss. "I think you have done more than enough." The general informed him coldly and self contained, but the black haired man didn't fail to see the triumphant glint behind those cool green eyes.

Not deeming the man worth his time any longer, he faced his other two children and smiled at them. "Now you two, do as your brother said and hurry. We do not want to bother your principle any longer now, do we?"

Loz shot a pleading, desperate look towards his brother, who in return just ordered him in their silent language to hurry up. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he glanced at his helpless math teacher, then dragged his impassive little brother along with him and disappeared into their room. While the eldest brother put their belongings together with shaking hands, Sephiroth made his way back to his car, all the way, waving his hands dismissively at the principle who assured him without taking a breath how sorry she was and that it certainly would never happen again and that he should rest assured that Tseng would have to face the consequences. At the last thing, the general even deigned to state an "Of course he will."

A few minutes later, Elena watched from the school entrance how the boys' vanished behind the tinted glass of the black limousine Sephiroth owned. As the car left the schoolyard she spotted Tseng in the shadow of a wall, suddenly looking ten years older and silently asked herself if she had really done the right thing.

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**Thanks to everyone who is still reading this and who reviews. I know that it´s been over a year now, so there are probably not many people out there who are still interested... And I´m not exactly one of the fasted, putting up new chapters. But I´m trying my best here and I hope you´ll continue reading till the end :)**

**So... Reviews will make me update faster, and THIS time I´ll keep my promise, because the next chapter is already written. And depending on the response it´ll be up either sooner or later ;)**


	27. Chapter 27

**Wow, it seems that there are people who are still reading this, I´m happy! As this is the last chapter (apart from the epilogue), I thought I might answer the reviews from the previous chapter... I just felt like it :)  
**

**Yazoo IS Superior: **I´m glad you found it worth the wait! (amazing penname by the way XD)

**leyna: **Yazoo IS playing a dangerous game, isn´t he? Actually I hoped that he would seem to act like the general, how better to face the enemy than playing him with his own game?

**CrippledAngle: **Haha, it was about time that Yazoo got some guts now, wasn´t it? I hope the update was soon enough, and thanks for waiting, I know I was so slow! But I wanted it to be good, so I took my time and hopefully it was worth it.

**Li-Bai - Opus 3 No. 2: **I hope, this chapter will answer your questions :) And as for Reno: I´m afraid he won´t make an appearance in this fic, but if people want to, I´m planning a sequel where he will play a more important role.

**Flawed Imagination: **Ah, don´t hate poor Elena, she was just tricked... I don´t think she had bad intentions, she just did what she thought best...and failed spectacularly :)

**CountessKitsune: **You´ll notice what the condition was in the epilogue, but probably you can already guess from this one...

**YinYangWhiteTiger: **Ah, don´t worry, I´m glad you are still reading it though. I have come to fancy other fandoms too, so I understand, but somehow Advent Children won´t let me go...

**Okay, so let´s stop the preamble and go on with the chapter.**

**(Thanks again j.sakurachan1 for betaing this chapter so fast, although it was so long.)**

**Enjoy!**

26

Tseng sat in his dark apartment, tiredly running a hand through his long dark tresses, eyeing the glass of whiskey in front of him without really seeing it. Somehow he felt like laughing, like insanely roaring out his bitter absolute unfunny helplessness. It didn't help that he knew that he had done the right thing with every fiber of his being. Everything was just so… fucked up.

Of course it hadn't surprised him in the slightest, that when he had attended the school this morning he had found the instant dismissal forced into his hand and the icy order from his superior to pack his things and never show up before her or any of his students again.

According to her, he even should be grateful that Sephiroth had refrained from advertising him for aspersion. Pretending to spare his children any further stress, the general had agreed to leave the matter alone if it was made certain that Tseng would never bother them again, though Tseng was pretty sure that his true motives weren't as nearly as noble as he claimed. Growling he shook his head and downed the drink.

He hadn't even been really shattered when he had gotten another note along with his dismissal that said that of now, he had lost his right to teach, making sure that he had not only lost his job but his entire base for working. It was an obstacle, sure, but it wasn't like he couldn't try to start over again. It wasn't like they had taken his entire reason for existence.

Therefore he hadn't had that much resentment against her, when Elena had waited for him at the entrance. She had looked really miserable, her fingers nervously tugging at her sleeve. He had stopped and waited for her to say something, and finally she had managed a quiet 'I'm sorry.'. He didn't know why, but somehow he had found that very amusing, in a ridiculous way, and had given a short laugh, noticing with just a tiny bit of satisfaction, that was instantly followed by guilt, when she flinched. They had remained silent for a while, Tseng not knowing what to answer. Suddenly she had turned on her heels and nearly run back into the building. He couldn't say that he hated her, but it _had_ been her fault. So he had left her alone.

What had gotten utterly and thoroughly under his skin was, when he had entered the parking lot to make his final leave. Because when he was about to put the key into the car lock, the box with his belongings tugged under his arm, a low, smooth humming had caught his attention and just mere meters away from him, a brand new, filthily expensive looking designer motorbike had stopped.

He had observed how the leather glad figure had elegantly slipped from the seat, taken of the black helmet and shaken his silver mane out of his face. Tseng didn't know how it was possible, but given that Sephiroth was his patron, it probably had been a piece of cake for the man to arrange a license for Yazoo even though the boy was years away from the legitimate age. Stone faced Tseng had followed the boy with his eyes as he had vanished inside the school building, apparently not noticing his former teacher standing speechless next to his own wretched car.

Tseng snorted another exasperated laugh and filled his glass with another shot. After that, it had been like someone had somehow drained all his motivation to move on from him, and he had mechanically driven home, dropped the box on the ground as soon as he entered the apartment, darkened the room for he couldn't stand the bright sunlight any longer. And here he was now, pathetically drinking himself into blissful oblivion. Or at least he attempted to. Due to the fact that he normally didn't drink, he didn't have much alcohol on hand. Briefly contemplating if he should make a short trip to the super market he threw the idea aside, falling back on the couch and staring at the white ceiling.

Getting drunk wouldn't change anything, the rational, reasonable part of his mind whispered and unfortunately Tseng was a person who listened. Another, quiet alien part to him, breathed something else, though. Something he normally wasn't known for being capable of. It said wicked things. Vicious things about revenge and retribution, things that made him slightly excited when he envisioned them. Things that contained him in a courtroom, him in the witness stand, waving indisputable evidences at a certain general's not-so-superior-anymore face. And that was only the harmless part; others contained a chair, bondages and a chainsaw, but he wasn't nearly drunk enough to gloat at this special vision.

All that he knew was that he most definitely wouldn't let the general have his way. If the man thought he had intimidated and muzzled him, he had a hell of a surprise coming for him!

The shrill ringing of his doorbell drew him out of his reverie abruptly, making a frown marring his dark expression further. He chose to ignore it, but his visitor seemed to be persistent as the bell rang frequently and didn't seem to stopping anytime soon. Apparently whoever had decided to bother him knew that he was at home. Exasperated, Tseng rose from his sofa, killed the distance to the door within a few seconds and punched the button of the intercom. "Listen Elena, I'm really not in the mood right no-"

"Mister Tseng. It's me, Yazoo." Stunned, the man stopped in his unnerved rant.

"I…I'm sorry to bother you…" there was a crackle from the intercom. The boy sounded somewhat nervous and contrite Tseng noticed. "I just… I think I'd like to talk to you…If you don't mind, that is." he hastily added.

After looking at the intercom for a moment, Tseng sighed and pushed the button again. "Alright. Come up."

"Thank you."

After that the cracking ceased and a minute later the boy stood at his door, letting himself be lead into the living room. Yazoo looked awkwardly at the empty glass and the half full whiskey bottle beside it and turned towards his teacher, looking a little lost. "I… If you're busy I can come back another time…" he mumbled, almost looking as if he _wished_ the man would try to get rid of him.

"No, it's alright. Sit please. I'll make some tea." Uncertainly the youth followed his former teachers inviting gesture and peeled out of his leather jacket, leaving his gloves on though, as if to not get too comfortable here and sat down in the offered chair. Tseng couldn't help the sudden urge and while cleaning off the table and taking the items with him in the kitchen he commented. "That's a pretty nice jacket you have there. Fits perfectly with the bike. Very cool."

The boy flinched, looking surprised and strangely guilty. "Ah. Thank you. It's almost entirely autopilot though." He mumbled, avoiding the teacher's eyes, though at the same time, Tseng noticed wit something akin to amusement, trying to keep his cool demeanor. There was also a slightly challenging, glint in his eyes. Honestly, the teacher sighed, after all he was just a stubborn, lost little kitten.

He prepared the tea and went back to the couch, placing the cup with a teabag dangling from the rim in front of his guest. Then he sat down opposite of him and sipped at his own. Now he was glad that he hadn't gotten hammered, since that certainly wouldn't have made him look very trusting and if he assumed right the boy desperately needed someone to open his heart to right now.

Though Yazoo seemed to struggle a little, as he just kept huddled in his chair, eyes cast downwards. Deciding to give him a little push, Tseng placed his cup at the table and crossed his legs, leaning backwards. "So, what is it you wanted to talk about?" Looking up as if startled, Yazoo rubbed his upper arm, looking to the side again.

"Is it about yesterday?" Tseng pressed further, albeit in a gentle voice. "If you are worried about me being angry, don't be. I'm not, at least not with you."

"Well, no actually that isn't…" Yazoo trailed of, but then he took a breath and looked his teacher in the eye almost desperately. "Actually I wanted to ask you to forget about the entire matter. Please forget about me and my brothers and don't concern yourself with us any longer."

Tseng stared at him unblinking, before finding his speech back and then answered very carefully and sad, shaking his head lightly. "I'm afraid I cannot do that."

The boy looked crestfallen, pressing his full lips into a thin line. "Why not. Why can't you just leave it alone?!"

Tseng breathed a deep, frustrated sigh, but reminded himself that it really wasn't the boy's fault for what seemed the hundredth time. It wouldn't help anyone if he got angry. He needed the boy to understand.

"Because it is wrong." He tried to reason. "I don't know what happened between you and general Sephiroth yesterday, but whatever he told you, it just isn't right. And all the motorcycles in the world can't change that fact."

Yazoo had gone back to staring at his hands. "Tell me Yazoo. Are you truly happy? Do you really thing that his household is the right place for you and your brothers to grow up? You have seen their looks, haven't you? You know that they fear him, that they fear for you. Why won't you acknowledge their concerns?"

The boy stubbornly continued to avoid eye contact, eventually reaching for his cup with slightly shacking hands, as if to prolong an answer even if it was just for a few moments. Tseng patiently waited as Yazoo forlornly looked at his cup until he opened his mouth as if to say something, but looked uncertain in the middle of it and seemed to settle for another few moments by asking quietly. "I…I'm sorry. Might I have… some sugar?" Pretending to have not noticed his diversion, Tseng said, "Sure," and stood to get some sugar cubes from the kitchen.

When he came back, the boy had crept even deeper into the chair, head dropped so that his face was hidden by his bangs. "Yazoo…" Tseng sighed, taking another sip from his tea, but mainly so that he could cling onto something solid as he was walking on very thin ice here. "I know how hard this must be for you, and I assure you that I'll do everything I can to help you-"

"You don't know anything." The sudden bitter interruption made Tseng look up at the boy with a pained expression. "You have no idea at all. You don't know how it… feels." Running a sweaty hand over his mouth and wetting his dry lips with the tip of his tongue, Tseng tried to calm down the upset youth, who still hid behind a curtain of fine silver hair.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean…Of course you are right, I never experienced this kind of pain and agony myself, but I think I can understand quite right what you must be going throu-"

"Actually," the boy interrupted him again, lifting his head and hefting his unreadable gaze at the anxious teacher, "it does feel really good."

Tseng's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, but before he could comment on this, Yazoo continued in a calm, even voice. "You see, it's nothing disgusting at all. And to answer your earlier question, actually yes, I am quiet happy with the circumstances."

Tseng finally blinked and gathered his jaw from the floor, making a disbelieving grunt. "Don't be ridiculous, do you really think I'm buying this crap?! Is this convenient for you, telling yourself that you don't mind to endure it? Make the pain seem less agonizing, the shame less overwhelming?" He didn't like being rough with the kid, but if this was how the wind was blowing, he had to wake up the boy from his illusionary dream world and confront him with the harsh reality as soon as possible. Though he shouldn't have been surprised, he'd read something like this in one of the books. It was some kind of strategy to prevent the kids from shattering.

Tilting his head to the side, Yazoo watched the agitated man quietly before answering with a resigned look. "I should have known that you would be saying this… And I guess you won't listen to me whatever I say to convince you otherwise. But I'm wondering who's really deceiving himself. Isn't it quite convenient for you too, to believe this? To cling to pseudo scientific scripts? Isn't that quite a lot easier than facing the possibility that I," a vicious smirk appeared on his lips as he leaned forward a little, "in fact enjoy being fucked by him?" It took Tseng all he had to not beat the smug smile from the boys face as Yazoo stared him in the eye with a sick, twisted amusement. "Because you see," he continued nonchalantly, leaning back in his chair casually "he makes me feel real good."

"If that's what you really think then you are quite a lot more mental than he is." Tseng growled, not knowing if he should be disgusted or feel pity for his former student. The boy just shrugged, seemingly undeterred by the insult.

"I never claimed I wasn't."

Making another disbelieving noise, Tseng shook his head again, not knowing what to say to this. "So," Yazoo continued in an almost bored fashion when he didn't get a reply, "Will you refrain from doing anything stupid now or what?"

"No, I won't, because if anything you just convinced me even more that you need help. Desperately." Ignoring the slightly annoyed pout that formed on the youth's lips after his words, Tseng feverishly tried to register what was happening, keeping his face as straight as he could, though. The sick things weren't the words that came out of Yazoo's mouth but _how_ he said them that bothered Tseng. And right now Tseng had a very hard time to 'cling to his pseudo science' because no matter how he looked at it, the way Yazoo spoke frightened the ex-teacher. Yazoo's no-shit attitude was getting to him and shaking something deep inside of him because he began to believe that the boy was speaking the truth. And if this was so, he had a hell of a lot more problems then he thought he ought to have.

"Just to get that straight." Tseng finally repeated slowly, closing his eyes. "You are trying to tell me that you like being fucked bloody."

"Exactly!" the boy beamed at him, looking truly pleased that his teacher had finally been able to wrap his mind around the concept.

"What about your illness then? Elena told me that you have really a serious problem. Did you never think about it that it might have been caused by your 'pleasing encounters' with our father? Since you seem to be very well informed yourself I don't think that I'll have to point out about repression and the subconscious to you." Tseng said sarcastically.

The boy blinked at him, tilting his head to the side in question but then it dawned on him. "Oh. You mean that." Suddenly Yazoo became very pale, as his body convulsed rapidly, eyes rolling back, leaving only the white and foam was building on his lips. Tseng was so shocked by the sudden seizure that he jumped to his feet, eyes wide with panic, but before he could take another step the fit had stopped, and Yazoo was sitting calmly in his chair, wiping at his mouth in a bored fashion waving a hand in dismissal. "Don't worry, it's nothing an aspirin couldn't handle. And when I'm not on display, I don't even need that." He smiled sweetly.

"You are sick." was all Tseng could manage to say. So the kitten had finally extended its claws, now had he? Though, that wasn't it. Right now there was nothing cute or darling about Yazoo. Instead he resembled a fully grown feline predator.

"Aww." Yazoo sulked mockingly but his eyes remained strangely cold "That's not a very nice thing to say, Mister Tseng." Petrified, the ebony haired man observed how his student's handsome features eased back into an unreadable, aloof mask. "But I didn't come here to hear your opinion on my mental state…"

"Maybe you are right." Tseng's icy voice echoed through the otherwise silent room, cutting through the air like a knife through warm butter, as he still stood with clenched fists, glaring at the boy in revulsion. "Maybe you can't be helped."

At this Yazoo rose a thin elegant eyebrow, looking very much like someone else Tseng knew. The teacher snorted at that again. "You truly resemble him."

"Why thank you. That's what I've been told." Yazoo replied in a friendly and unbothered tone.

"Well then I take it you don't care about them either? About your brothers? You don't care what will become of them? Are you so wretched that you can just abandon them, betray their trust and love? Leaving them to themselves when they need you?"

For a moment Tseng loathed himself for the desperate, pleading edge that crept into his voice and as a nauseating feeling seemed to overtake him. He fell back in his chair, running a hand through his hair tiredly. Though it seemed that at least he had gotten through to the spawn as his eyes narrowed and his laid back, confident attitude seemed to falter.

"Need me, hn?" he repeated acrimoniously, then snorted in dismissal "Actually you are right, this was a bit of a problem." Looking to the ground in reverie, Yazoo seemed to ponder about something before he looked up at the teacher with a dismissive look. "But then I came to realize that, as a matter of fact, they do not need me. Nothing is forever. What do they need me for, now? They are steadily growing up, drifting apart from me. Loz is having his first girlfriend, and certainly it won't be his last, Kadaj is adjusting to life rather quickly and on his best way to become a little tyrant. Gods, he's so full of himself that he doesn't even notice that things are changing. Not yet at least."

He paused, but then continued, shrugging "But that really isn't something to be desperate about. That's how life is and the sooner they get used to it, the better for everyone involved. I'm not their babysitter, and they sure are not mine. In the end man forges his own destiny. Regardless of if we like it or not, life isn't fair and the weak will be discarded. I'm not wasting my life looking for them just to notice at one point that they have gone ahead with their new lives, leaving me behind. I saw my chance and I took it. There is nothing I could desire right now, every one of my wishes is being taken care of."

"Hn. Before they leave you, you leave them, is that how it is?! You really believe that, do you. So how's your life going to be, eh? Living happily ever after with the general until death does you apart? Your brothers start to rebelling a little and you just turn them down, seeking love from somewhere else? Hoping that his weak spot for you lasts long enough to ascertain your status quo?"

Yazoo stared at the teacher for a good full minute, until bursting into low chuckles, his shoulders shaking, as he tried to stifle his laughter with his hand. When he could articulate himself again, he pushed a silver strand out of his face, taking a deep breath.

"Really, you are so funny sometimes."

The teacher didn't know what exactly it was that was so amusing. To be frank, he felt rather like retching his guts out from the whole conversation. His brain was giving him a hell of a headache, and he just was so sick of this.

"Now really, I'm not that naïve." The boy declared, leaning casually back again and twirling one of his silver strands between his fingers lazily. "This hasn't anything to do with love at all. It's all about power. I think it relaxes him; it's a game for father. But it isn't like he is the only one who holds power, actually it is quiet amusing and challenging to see who gets his will first." The boy chuckled again, clearly delighted. "And I must say that he his rather attentive after _that_ incident, so I should probably thank you after all."

Tseng made an attempt to say something, but couldn't bring himself to do so. Everything in front of his eyes seemed to blur and his ability to comprehend anything was exceeded. He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare right out of the deepest pits of hell from which he couldn't wake up. Maybe he had become drunk and fallen asleep, and would wake up soon, real soon please…

A hand waved in front of his face, the boy's features unpleasantly close as he stood hunched in front of him and over the table. Following some primal instinct Tseng backed away, but Yazoo didn't seem to mind as he simply sat back, seeing that he had the teacher's attention back. A serious expression was gracing his youthful face. "So knowing that there is nothing you can do, nor that your 'help' is appreciated, will you refrain from minding other people's business now?"

Tseng looked back at him with unbelieving eyes. How could the mental little shit seriously think that, after all he'd heard, Tseng would sit back down quietly and let him continue his wretched little mind games, ruining other peoples lives? Reading the answer clearly written all over the teachers face, Yazoo made one of his trademark 'hmpf' sounds. "I see. Well, I guess then there's nothing for me to regret."

"Regret?" Tseng echoed, not being able to follow the conversation any longer. Which wasn't much news, he thought sarcastically, he had lost his sanity about half an hour ago.

"Hm." Yazoo made an affirmative noise, reaching over the table and playing with Tseng's cup, looking thoughtful. "Knowing you, I assumed that the chances that you would submit were pretty low. If not to say almost zero. So I took precautions."

"Precautions!" Tseng growled, suddenly angry. Somehow he really didn't like where this was going.

"You are feeling a little dizzy since quite a while now, aren't you? Headache? Problems keeping your thoughts straight? Nausea?" Tseng's eyes widened, the bad feeling tightening the knot in his guts even further.

"How…! What did you do?" he hissed, trying to jump at his feet in panic, when suddenly the world seemed to spin around him like a carousel on full speed, making him loose balance and his somewhat numb feet giving out under him. Clinging to the sofa for support, he tried to prevent himself from falling to the floor completely. Gods, he couldn't feel his feet!

"Tetrocharybaicatoxin. It's a special neurotoxin, father kindly provided me with. It makes the body go weak and numb after about half an hour, slowly paralyzing every single muscle. It's pretty handy."

"When…" Tseng breathed, which had started to become increasingly difficult, as well as staying focused. He couldn't move his fingers any longer, not to speak of the lower part of his body he only knew he had because he could blurrily see it sprawled out under him.

"When you went to the kitchen to get me some sugar," the wolf in sheep's clothing said, standing now next to his former teacher, looking down at the man with his head tilted. "You see, the good thing about that poison is that it leaves enough time and ability for conversation. Or to stop it's lethal effect with an antidote. It's taking pretty quick effect towards the end, though."

"Antidote?" Tseng breathed harshly, as he lost his grip and fell to the floor, searching the boys face feverishly. This just wasn't happening!

"Hn. Just in case you would've decided to be cooperative…" His explanation was cut short, when Tseng, with gritted teeth and all his last strength, grabbed for the boys trousers and clung to his legs with fogged eyes.

"Please, I'll… I'll be cooperative, I understand now…" he had to stop when his stomach suddenly recoiled, making him gasp, but he didn't let go of his former student, trying to look up at the face, but all he could make out was a pale blur. Then suddenly the face became clearer, green orbs boring into his, as Yazoo crouched down next to him, a pitying look on his face. "You know, I really want to believe you, but honestly, I think you just don't want to die, so you're saying whatever you think I might want to hear."

Tseng attempted to shake his head frequently, as his words started to fail him already. His breathing had become a hitching and gasping, and he briefly wondered that he must look like a fish out of water. Why? Why had this happened?! Yazoo was just a boy!

"Please" he managed hoarsely. "This isn't a game. If you don't stop, you'll become guilty of murder…" he choked at his own words, feeling a cold darkness accumulating at the rim of his eyes and slowly narrowing his view.

Death was reaching his clammy fingers out to him, hissing his foul breath into his face and suddenly Tseng was overtaken with panic. There was no way he could die here, there were still so many thinks he wanted to do, needed to do… he just didn't remember… random images appearing before his eyes…all somewhat familiar…but he couldn't quite put his fingers on them…

Seemingly from very far above him a low, smooth voice was talking to him, the words sounding somewhat lopsided and smeared. Yazoo looked down at the dying man, wondering if he could even hear him any longer, but answered nonetheless. "Don't worry, the poison doesn't leave a trace. Actually it will look like you had a severe heart attack. That might be a bit risky but considering that you just have lost your job and your license, even at your age it will be believable. And father said that some of his man would take care of the autopsy anyways, so there is really nothing to be concerned about." He assured the man, adding in a thoughtful voice. "Father also said that I should watch you. Seeing a person die improves character, he said."

Tseng didn't seem like he was paying attention to him any longer, lying nearly still at the floor, only his ragged breathing and his rolling eyes indicating that he was still alive. "Why…" he somehow managed, making the boy rise an eyebrow.

"I warned you, didn't I? You should have just kept to your own business. I won't allow anyone to destroy my efforts with their selfishness, least of all you. It's a pity though." Yazoo pondered, head tilted as he slowly freed his trousers from the man's iron grip. "I think you were a quite formidable teacher where mathematics were concerned." Almond eyes blinked slowly, almost lazily as bright green orbs took a last glance at the red carpet, where ebony hair was fanned out under a still, hardly breathing body. It almost looked like blood, the boy wondered. Then long legs spun around in a fluid motion, delicate fingers reached for black leather and silver tresses waved slightly.

The last thing Tseng saw was a blur of black and white vanishing into dark cold nothingness and the last thing he did was breathing a choking, hysterical laugh.

* * *

**I think I will leave explanations for the epilogue...**

**Review please?**


	28. Epilogue

**Thanks again for all the nice reviews, honestly I´m reliefed that you guys took it so casually... :)**

**So, as promised, the explanation will be at the end of the chapter, but I hope that the epilogue will clear things up anyway. **

**A big thanks to j.sakurachan1 who proofread this again, you rock so much!!**

**Enjoy!**

Epilogue

With a trail of dust the bike came to a halt, swaying slightly to the side as the pedestal was put up. Yazoo let his helmet hang from his arm as he made his way through the garden on the white gravel path towards the loud noises coming from the back. He stopped in the sheltered backyard, where Loz was standing in just his trousers, hacking wood. Just as the oldest boy was wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and about to put another piece of wood into place, silently cursing under his breath why he had to do this shit in the heat of summer, he noticed his brother's presence and let the axe down with a frown.

"Oy."

Yazoo nodded a short greeting.

"Where have you been?"

Ignoring the slightly irritated undertone and suspicious look on Loz face, Yazoo tilted his head. Since he had more or less forced his brothers to come back with him, Loz had started to act somewhat cold around him. He didn´t show any open hostility, nor had he questioned his decision even once, but somehow Yazoo could feel that a large part of trust had been taken away from them, leaving a maybe unbridgeable gap between them.

Well, it wasn´t anything he couldn´t handle. Pretending that nothing had changed between them at all, Yazoo shrugged and said. "Nowhere special. Just a little shopping."

Inwardly smirking at the unhidden curiosity that took over his brother's features, he kept his face straight.

"Oh. What did you buy?"

"Cell phone."

The frown was back. "But you already have one…"

"It´s not for me…" With a smile, Yazoo magically summoned a brand new black mobile from his pocket and nonchalantly tossed it into a stunned Loz´s direction, who stared at the item wide eyed.

"That´s… for me?"

"Hn." Yazoo looked at him in amusement, pointing out "I thought that you would rather talk to Tifa at home, instead of in a phone box."

Almost instantly Loz's face turned a deep shade of red, murmuring. "Well, yeah… thanks."

"No problem."

The clearly delighted expression of Loz changed once again, after he had examined the phone excitedly, but was asking quiet uncertain. "You… sure that´s okay?"

"Of course, you´re my brother." Yazoo looked slightly confused.

"No, I mean… You now…" Loz made a helpless gesture towards the house, not wanting to speak directly of the general and just hoping Yazoo would understand.

"Ah, don´t worry, that´s alright." The other boy assured him warmly, and the concerned look vanished from Loz´s features.

"Yeah, well then… Thanks again…" He shot his younger brother a grateful look (barely refraining from glomping him and squashing his fragile figure in a sweaty bear hug). Loz wanted to explore his new toy and call Tifa as soon as possible.

"So, where´s Kadaj?"

"In his room. Maybe." Loz shrugged. As if he had the time tracking down the brat's whereabouts all day long…

"Hn." Yazoo made, turning around and walking to the patio door, adding over his shoulder in a slightly dunning but amused manner, "Just don´t forget to finish your work."

"Nah…" came the distracted reply, as Loz was already fully busy with his new phone. Smirking, Yazoo entered the house, marvelling on how pathetically easily Loz was to manipulate. It almost wasn´t funny anymore.

Making his way through the pleasingly cool floors, his steps muffled by the thick carpets, Yazoo came to the rooms that were farthest away from his and the generals. Stopping in front of the last one, he softly rapped at the door and entered without waiting for an invitation.

Kadaj was sitting by the window, head propped into his palms and looked outside. He didn´t look up when Yazoo came to stand next to him, his gaze directed into a far away distance that went beyond the reach of anyone but him. Only when Yazoo placed a hand on his shoulders lightly and bend down to him, did Kadaj notice the other's presence and a somewhat hollow, uncertain smile graced his features. "Hey."

"Hey! Sorry I didn´t notice you were here…"

"That I saw." Yazoo mockingly huffed, but his eyes were gleaming with mirth.

"Ah, don´t be like this…" Kadaj pouted, punching his brother's arm lightly.

"So, what was it that kept you so occupied that you wouldn´t even acknowledge your most favourite, awesome brother?"

A giggle erupted from the boys throat. Shifting his position into cross legged, so as to better be able to face Yazoo, who had taken a seat next to him on the wide sill, the littlest eyed the other boy, the happiness changing to a thoughtful, melancholy look.

"Nothing, really…"

Yazoo narrowed his eyes, as the boy avoided eye contact and nervously observed the wallpaper.

"Kadaj, look at me…" he softly ordered, all cheerfulness gone. When the boy reluctantly obeyed, Yazoo sighed and said in a reassuring manner.

"Remember what we promised? From now on there will be no more secrets between us that can cause misunderstandings. You don´t want something like this to happen again now, do you?" The boy shook his head, nibbling at his bottom lip. "Now, then tell me what´s on your mind, hm?"

"I…It´s just…" Kadaj gulped and Yazoo smiled soothingly.

"I understand what you were telling me, and that I got it all wrong and that it wasn´t his fault but that it was your illness and that you had a fit that night and Sep- father only went to call for help and all but-" it suddenly burst out of him "I still… I mean what if he hurts me again… I don´t know if I want to be here, even if I got my own room and all…"

Hiding behind his fringe of silver hair and biting his lips, Kadaj eyed his brother from out of the corner of his eye.

Sighing, Yazoo was quiet for a while, looking at his folded hands until he finally said. "That´s okay, I understand. But you know, father hasn´t any experience with children at all, so it´s not his fault. I admit that he did things that were not alright, and that he was a little stressed lately, but now that we know about it, we have to help him out a little so that we all can get along, hm? And you have to admit that you weren´t exactly cooperative the last two months now, were you?" Kadaj nodded his head reluctantly, looking a little guilty, but not quite convinced yet. "But… What about Mister Tseng? I mean… Isn´t it really bad for him now?"

"Don´t worry about him. I´m sure he will be alright and that there is nothing to worry about. He´s an adult, he´ll know how to deal with this. And it was his own fault after all, dragging us to his house without informing himself about the situation, wasn´t it?"

Kadaj shot him a strange look, which didn´t go unnoticed by his older brother.

"What? You don´t trust me?" he asked, voice sounding a lot more cold and distanced suddenly.

Eyes widening, Kadaj hurried to frantically shake his head, silver hair swirling around. "N-no, of course I do! I´m sorry…" He kneaded his sleeve between his little fingers, clearly frightened. After all, what was he to do if Yazoo would become angry with him? He was his tower of strength, the one person he could rely on.

"It´s all right now. And as long as you behave there won´t be any trouble, so there´s no need to worry at all. Just finish your chores well and stay out of his way and everything will be fine."

"Okay."

"Okay." Smiling at each other, one reassuring, the other still a little uncertain, the brothers sat at the sill, the still warm evening sun heating their backs and casting everything in a warm orange light.

"Well, I think it´s about time I go down to prepare fathers food." Rising from the sill, Yazoo placed long fingers on his brother's head, ruffling his hair lightly. "Don´t stay up too long and make sure to not oversleep tomorrow. And whenever you have a problem, don´t hesitate to share with me, okay? Good night."

"Hn. Good night. And thank you."

"You´re welcome." With another smile the door shut close behind the middle brother, leaving Kadaj alone in his new, fancy and much desired own room, which seemed much too big to him suddenly.

--

"So? How did it go?" General Sephiroth slouched on the couch, his uniform half unbuttoned and a glass of bourbon resting in his hand.

"Just as you said, he wasn´t very… cooperative." Yazoo pointed out, sliding a finger along the strong arm draped around his shoulder.

"I see." The other man smirked and took a sip from his glass. "Then I take it you took care of this?"

"Yes." The boy affirmed quietly, but with not much interest, due to the generals dextrous fingers ghosting over the delicate skin of his throat.

"What about the other runts?" The voice sounded much cooler, indicating that this special topic didn´t quite please the man. Sephiroth observed the boy leaning against him out of the corner of his eye.

"I took care of this, too. They won´t do anything stupid. Loz is totally occupied with his girlfriend and Kadaj is too frightened to try anythi-"

"I hope so." The older man interrupted, in a hushed voice that bordered on snarling, as he emphasized his threat with a short squeeze around the boys throat. The next moment, everything sinister had vanished from Sepiroth's behaviour, as he had seen the slight widening of the boys eyes.

Sephiroth wouldn´t tolerate another failure. And though the boy had convinced the general that it would be much more effective to grant his brothers light privileges to prevent them from rebelling, Yazoo just shouldn´t believe that he, the great general, would be bossed around by his pet. He was the one to give orders, and he had merely accepted the boy's advice because it was convenient. From now on Yazoo would have to deal with everything concerning his annoying spawns and god help him if he failed.

Yazoo seemed to have understood his point, which rather pleased the general, for he hated it to have to explain himself. Loosening his grip on the boys neck, he instead continue to stroke the sensitive skin and his demeanour became relaxed again.

"I told you they won´t make any problems anymore." The boy pouted. "Besides, if they do misbehave there is always the option of sending them away to a military academy, I´m sure _they_´ll be able to handle them. Don´t you trust me?" An accusing, sullen look was sent in the general direction of Sephiroth. The general donned a fake, warm smile on his face and leaned forward, tenderly whispering in the boys ear "Of course I don´t. You are far too sly for your own good, kitten."

"Ah? I´m wondering were I got that from…" came the innocently spoken reply, accompanied by a wry smile and a side glance at a certain general.

"Hn." Leaning back, the older man shot his child an approving look. After all, the boy's twisted, reckless character came just in handy, and as long as he knew where his limits were, everything would go smoothly. If not… well, Sephiroth had several ways of making people obedient.

Placing the glass aside, Sephiroth lazily reached for some grapes, putting them in his mouth slowly while he continued to watch his child who held his head tilted and enjoyed his touch with half lidded eyes.

"So, tell me how it felt."

"Mh?" Questioning eyes looked up at him in slight confusion.

Smirking, the general popped another grape in his mouth, explaining. "The killing. How did it feel."

"Oh." The boy shrugged. "He wouldn´t listen, so I guess it´s a relief he´s dead now. Though he was really stubborn and annoying…"

Sephiroth rose an elegant eyebrow, placing his booth glad feet on the table casually. "Is that so? Tell me how he died then."

"His breathing stopped, and voila: he was dead." The boy explained in a bored tone with a slight hint of impatience in his voice.

The stroking stopped, exciting an unhappy growl from Yazoo's white throat. Unblinking the general wrapped his lips around another grape, casually commenting. "Ah, I´m sure you can do better to entertain me than this."

"Of course I can…" Yazoo purred, trailing a finger along the generals exposed, smooth chest, a mischievous, teasing glint in his eyes.

"What a spoiled little kitten you are…" Sephiroth smirked, amused, but stopping the boys hand nonetheless. "Though that has to wait for after the lesson."

Frowning slightly Yazoo let go, giving in and sighing. "Well, he didn´t notice that he was going to die until I pointed it out to him. Then he was all like 'I won´t do anything, please don´t kill me.', and so on, and when he noticed that that wouldn´t work he tried to appeal to my, I dare say rather nonexistent, morals. In the end it was rather pathetic…" he snorted disgustedly.

"Hm." The general made, reaching for his glass again. "And, what you did you learn from this?"

Looking at his nails, Yazoo guessed unenthusiastically. "Well, never mess with the great general Sephiroth?"

"Exactly." Said general smirked, taking a sip from his glass. "You should remember that, kitten."

Raising an eyebrow, the boy looked up at his father with a sceptical look. "Just why do I feel like this was some kind of threat just now?"

"Oh, you noticed? How perceptive." The general smiled sweetly. "It´s just a reminder, though. Like for the next time when you get that crazy idea of trying to blackmail me for child abuse… You know, murder far outweighs 'sexual assault'."

Sephiroth found the petrified face of his child with its big, widened eyes and the slightly opened mouth simply adorable and with a satisfied smirk he downed his bourbon.

However Yazoo didn´t stay like that for long, as his eyes narrowed slightly, and he leaned into the generals embrace with a small smile himself.

"Hn. I guess so. But I think that, for all your brilliance, you are missing something here."

"Oh?" Rising an eyebrow again, the general continued to explore the soft skin that taunt over Yazoo's collar bone.

"Unlike you," he explained, smile getting sly "I am still underage and therefore cannot be charged. Besides, I can always say it was you who forced me…"

"I see," Sephiroth smirked, pulling another grape from the branch and feeding it to the boy thoughtfully, "But I know it´s you who is missing the **main** point here..."

Licking a small droplet of water from the General's long fingers, Yazoo tilted his head in question. "Poor naïve boy…" Running his thumb over full lips, Sephiroths face came closer towards his child's. "You are forgetting that I am the law here."

As Yazoo´s lips curled into a slight pout again, the general leaned back again a bit, saying "I see we understand each other?"

A resigned "yes" echoed through the dimly lit salon.

"Good boy." Pleased, the longer haired young man patted his sullen child on the head, laughing a little at his frustrated look, for he knew that it wasn´t directed at him, but that the boy was clearly dissatisfied with himself.

"Now, now kitten, don´t be like this. You did well. In a few years you might become a sufficient strategist, though you´ll always be a hundred years too early to compete with me, mh?" he teased.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Yazoo continued to sourly sulk at his own incompetence.

"Awww. Now, let´s stop this." Sephiroth ordered, lifting the boys chin and smirked. "After all, I still have to punish you for the disaster you caused…"

Satisfied, the general noticed the lightening up in the boy's features. Inwardly shaking his head a little, the general mused to himself, _Someone understand kids these days…_

End

* * *

**So, here we are... at the end...**

**Hn, I´m feeling a little emotional right now...**

**Oh well, let´s just start with the explanations:**

**First off, I hope I didn´t offend any Tseng fans, because I really liked that character. But in order to make the story work, he had to die... I first had planned to kill Elena, but since I might plan a sequel, she would be necessary, so I couldn´t do that...**

**Why did Tseng have to die?**

**Obviously it was for the twist and to line out the idea I have about Yazoo´s character. It wasn´t that hard to keep Loz or even Kadaj (since here he his only a child, and his psychoses have yet to develope) IC (or so I hope).**

**It wasn´t that easy with Yazoo, because instead of a caring, over emotional brat I see him as someone who is mainly concerned with his own business. On the other hand, he is not too much of an opportunist either and satisfied with a certain status quo where he doesn´t have to concern himself too much with the circumstances. For reaching that goal, he would stop at nothing, not even selling his brothers. (As it was said in his character description, he is someone who isn´t affected much by worldly matters, therefore I see him as someone rather aloof and amoral. But a great actor and manipulator if need be).  
**

**Though at the beginning of the story he is still quite attached to his brothers, despite his liaison with the general, that changes when he feels that they get into his way. As a matter of fact, that whole "abuse" thing, was never really forced, so since Tseng wouldn´t give up on trying to expose the general despite Yazoos efforts to convince him otherwise, he had to take extreme measures.  
**

**What got me the idea for the Sephiroth/Yazoo pairing (apart from the fact that they are really hot together XD), was that I read a lot of fanfiction, where Sephiroth was some kind of father/brother figure for the remnants and almost always got in trouble with Loz and Kadaj, but scarcely with Yazoo. I guess that´s because they are very much alike and would settle problems like ´adults´.**

**So yes, mainly to point out Yazoo´s 'real' personality, Tseng had to die. And for the drama. Sorry if someone liked him...**

**Uhm... is there something else?**

**Maybe a few words about the general. As I hope to have made clear, this isn´t some romance thing going on between them. While Yazoo is portrayed as (relatively) sane, Sephiroth isn´t and some of his twisted ideas were rubbing of on Yazoo. As I said, for the general it is all about power. I don´t know if someone saw "Schindlers list" but in one scene, Schindler (the good guy) tells Amon Göth (the bad guy who randomly shoots jews for the ´fun´ of it) that real power is not to take lifes, but to ´forgive´. It´s basically the same concept here. Sephiroth deems it fun to hold himself a pet he can spoil, insteat of beating him into a bloody pulp. Though he know he could if he wanted to. But then on the other hand, he´s loosing it sometimes... That´s the insane part.**

**... That´s it. If there are still any questions, please feel free to pm me.**

**But before I finally shut up, there is still a question I´d like to ask:**

**As I have indicated, I am working on a sequel right now. It would take a closer look on the relationship between Sephiroth and Yazoo and would also feature 'new' characters, such as Vincent, Zack, Aerith/s and Cloud. (They need a new math teacher, after all...)  
**

**So, anyone interested? Because if not, I´ll just keep it playing out in my head...**

**Aiko Celeste: **Yeah, that new login thing is strange, uh? According to this, I´m almost never human... I hope you are not too sad about Tsengs dead;)

**CountessKitsune: **No, you are not an asshole for thinking that! (Besides, what would make that me, the author?!). I´m really glad you liked it!

**Flawed Imagination: **I hope the explanation helped a little? If not, please feel free to pm me and I´ll do my best to make it plausible!

**Yazoo IS superiour: **But, he really did it... I´m glad you liked it, though!

**whitelanc3r: **Oh I really hope I could explain why and how and what...? Hopefully the good feelings outweigh the bad?

**CrippledAngle: **I´m glad you found it to be unexpected, that was what I was aiming for, after all!

**j.sakurachan1: **Thank you so much for your help and your kind words, again. I guess it´s beause of you that I was able to finish that story so soon, and if anyone would like to read a sequel, O´d be more than glad if you would be willing to proof read that too!

**Review please? Maybe we can make it to 100 reviews ;)  
**


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